Protecting Miss Montez
by unknownbyhim22
Summary: When Gabriella walked out of her bedroom, she expected to see Charles, her fifty-something year old body guard with a coffee in his hand and a smile. She did not expect to see Troy Bolton, a very handsome new member of the secret service. A T&G Story.
1. The President's Daughter

**New story! Yay! I started writing this story in the summer and literally wrote the beginning, and then the end and left the middle blank. That wasn't the greatest idea on my part, considering I couldn't think of anything to put in the middle, but since I'm on mid-winter break I decided to finish it by the time I had to go back to school, and I did today! **

**I'm not sure how awesome this story is, to be honest. Most people have done their share of a story like this. Making Troy the body guard, Gabriella the President's daughter, etc. I just wanted to take a whack at a story like this, so go easy on me. It actually made me realized that I like writing stories that no one else has done, so it was a learning experience! I'm excited to say that the story after this one will definitly be original! I can't wait to start working on that once I post this story! **

**As always, Enjoy!**

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter One

The President's Daughter

Gabriella squinted as she pulled her covers over her head, trying to escape from the brightening room as Rosy the house keeper pulled open the long curtains that covered her large windows. She groaned as her blanket was suddenly tugged away from her grasp and she was left in the chilly atmosphere without any protection.

"Wake up, Miss Montez; you're going to waste the day away." Rosy told her with a smile, tossing her a robe as she slipped on her slippers.

"I hate schedules." Gabriella replied as she glided towards her bathroom, wondering when she'd have a day off.

"I've heard." Rosy said with a laugh as she started to pull the sheets off of Gabriella's bed, pulling new ones on and making her bed look as if it came right out of a catalog.

After a quick shower, Gabriella pulled on the outfit that Rosy had picked out for her and she frowned at the business-like look that it had. She wished she could wear a fun skirt that a normal everyday girl would wear, but unfortunately she wasn't what most would call normal. She opened her bedroom door and put her hand up to grab the coffee that was always ready for her, but her hand only grabbed air and she frowned.

"Charles, where's my coffee?" She asked as she looked to the side where Charles, a tall bald guy with sunglasses, always stood to watch over her door.

Gabriella's eyebrows rose as she saw a new guy standing next to her door; a guy who was definitely not Charles. The guy who stood by her door was her age and he had amazing shaggy hair.

"Charles got promoted." The hottie said with a nod, looking at her quickly before turning back to staring at the wall in front of him.

"Promoted?" She questioned out loud.

"He's protecting your father." The guy explained, moving from his position by the wall once she started walking down the hallway.

Gabriella glanced behind her where this new guy was keeping a good distance between them and she wondered if she'd even get her morning coffee. She looked down at the blue and gold carpet and rolled her eyes at her so-not-in-fashion shoes. Without bothering to knock on the door where her father was most likely behind, Gabriella started her rant about why Charles was promoted. Charles grinned as he stood at the other end of the room.

"Dad, what's with the new guy?" She asked, seeing her dad looking at a piece of paper intently as he sat in his desk.

"New guy?" Her father asked, not looking up from the paper.

"Charles and I were just starting to get along. We had a secret code started and everything!" Gabriella explained, stopping as her dad looked up at her, raising his eyebrows in suspicion.

"Secret codes?" He asked her.

"Yeah, you know, like if I'm bored I twist my hair around my finger twice and he explains to whomever I'm with that I came down with some kind of illness." She told him, looking over at Charles with a thumbs up.

"And here I thought you were catching colds on a daily basis." Her father said with a small laugh. "I'm sure you and Troy can come up with your own secret code."

"Who the heck is Troy?" Gabriella asked in confusion, hearing Charles chuckle from his place behind her.

"He's the newest member of the secret service." Her father said as he stood from his chair, setting the paper he had been reading down as he looked up at his sighing daughter. "He'll be protecting you."

"You're having a very attractive guy who's my age protect me, Dad? Is that really the best choice?" She asked him, trying to get her buddy Charles back on her side. He was just starting to let her get away with things like staying up past her curfew… and now she was going to have to work hard again to bend the rules with the new guy.

"You're not getting Charles back, Gabs. And besides, you have a boyfriend. I don't have to worry about Mr. Bolton, do I?" He asked her with a serious look on his face.

"Nope." Gabriella said with a sigh as she made her way towards the door.

"Oh and Gabs," Her dad started before she could leave. "Don't come into the Oval Office without knocking."

"Yeah, yeah, Mr. President." She said with an eye roll, barely phased by the fact that Troy started following her the second she started making her way away from the room.

"Don't you have anything better to do with your life than to follow me around?" She asked Troy as they walked down the hallway.

"Yes, I do Miss Montez." He said seriously, glancing over at her.

"Did you just insult me?" Gabriella asked with an eyebrow raise, trying her best to look mad.

"Yes, I did Miss Montez." He replied in the same tone, wondering why a huge smile formed on her face when she heard his answer.

"Awesome." She said to herself, liking the fact that just because she was the President's daughter this Troy Bolton guy would still insult her if he felt it was necessary. Finally, she was somewhat experiencing some normalcy.

Troy stayed quiet as they walked down the hallway and she took that time to observe him. He was obviously in shape and the serious look that was on his face made her want to laugh as if he was acting like he was a serious guy. For some reason, Gabriella could tell that he wasn't as serious as he looked. The black suit he was wearing moved with him perfectly and she suddenly had a vision of him dancing at a prom or something, laughing with his friends as they dressed in suits similar to his.

"How old are you?" She asked him curiously.

"Same age as you are." He replied with a nod, glancing over at her.

"So, you're twenty three?"

"Yes." He said with a nod.

"You don't talk much do you?" She asked him with a laugh as they walked into the kitchen. He stopped at the door, keeping his hands tucked behind his back as he watched Gabriella pull out a box of cheerios from the cupboard.

"I doubt you'd be interested in what I'd have to say." He replied simply, looking out at the kitchen windows behind her where he could see the huge backyard.

"Doesn't hurt to try." Gabriella replied before she put a spoonful of cereal in her mouth, trying not to let any milk drip onto her outfit.

Troy stayed quiet as he stood by the door, not giving Gabriella an answer as she rolled her eyes. Apparently he didn't feel like talking to her and that bugged her. She set her bowl in the sink after rinsing it out and sighed dramatically as she walked past him.

"I hate being the President's daughter! Even the people who are paid to talk to me don't talk to me." She said to no one in particular, but since Troy was the only one around to hear her, he answered.

"I'm not paid to talk to you. I'm paid to protect you." He said simply, trying not to laugh as she huffed and puffed in frustration, stomping in her ugly shoes back towards her room.

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**Like it? Review! Be sure to take a look at my new oneshot- The Beach House. **

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	2. Sharpay Evans

**Thanks so much for the 30 reviews! I'm glad everyone seems to like the story so far! Here's Chapter Two!**

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter Two

Sharpay Evans

Troy walked into the Oval Office nervously after he heard that the President wanted to talk to him. President Montez stood from his desk with a smile on his face, greeting Troy with a nod as Troy stood before him.

"How's it been adjusting to the job?" He asked Troy politely, leaning against his desk as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"It's been fine, Mr. President." Troy replied with a nod.

"I'm sure you're wondering why you're here." President Montez said with a carefree laugh. "It's about Gabriella."

Troy nodded, glad that he wasn't being fired on his second day on duty. President Montez looked at Troy seriously all of a sudden, wanting to start explaining his current situation. Troy cleared his throat, glancing at a calm Charles who was standing by the door.

"She wants to go on a date with her boyfriend Drew and the only way I'm letting her go is for you and Charles to go with her." He told him, smiling softly now. "He's my campaign manager's son and he's a good kid, but I don't want my daughter getting into any trouble, do you understand?"

"Yes, Mr. President." Troy nodded in agreement. "I'll make sure she's okay."

"Good." He smiled. "That will be all."

Gabriella appeared suddenly and Troy looked at her with a small smile, holding in a laugh as he saw that she wasn't exactly happy. She glared at him and then at her father, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Mom just informed me that I'm being chaperoned by the secret service on my date." She said dully.

"You know the rules." President Montez said with a sigh as he looked at his fuming daughter.

"Dad, I could take out the toughest guy with a swing of my purse! I don't need to be babysat!" Gabriella complained.

"I feel bad for any guy who has to come in contact with your purse, Gabs, but Troy and Charles are trained professionals. They will protect you." He explained to her, trying to get the point across to his daughter that she couldn't be alone.

"What are they going to protect me from? Puppies?" She asked impatiently, not caring if she was insulting Troy and Charles' ability to protect her.

"I'm sure puppies would run away from you, Miss Montez. We wouldn't be needed for that." Troy said as he looked over at her, seeing the President raise his eyebrows and then look over at his daughter to see how she was taking the insult.

"I'm sure you're the kind of guy who would kick a puppy, aren't you?" She argued, marching out of the room with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Well done, Mr. Bolton." President Montez said with a laugh. "I think she's going to like you."

"Let's hope not." Troy said with a laugh, glancing to the side where he saw Gabriella picking up her pace as she went down the hallway.

***

Troy was standing in his spot by Gabriella's door when the door opened, revealing Rosy who looked extremely stressed out. She had been in Gabriella's room for two hours trying to help her pick out something to wear and they still couldn't decide, so now they were resulting to Troy to help them.

"We need a guy's point of view." Rosy explained as she grabbed Troy by the arm, pulling him into Gabriella's room where clothes were thrown all over the floor and a stressed Gabriella stood in front of the mirror.

It was the first time Troy had actually seen the inside of Gabriella's room and the second he got a few feet in he could smell Gabriella's perfume. Her desk had a stack of books in the middle of it, looking as if they were about to tip over and tumble onto the floor, but they stayed there sturdily and he looked to different places in her room. There was a poster on the back of her bathroom door of Hannah Montana and Troy wondered if she wished she could put on a wig and suddenly turn into someone else… someone who wasn't the Presidents daughter.

"Earth to Troy." He heard her say loudly.

"Oh, sorry." Troy said quickly unaware of the fact that he was staring at all of her stuff.

Gabriella was standing with her hands on her hips in a black dress, one that went past her knees and didn't dare hug her body. Troy bit his lip, trying not to laugh as he saw her grandmother-like shoes. In the most polite way of describing the dress, one word would sum it up and that word was UGLY!

"I'm sorry, Miss Montez, but I don't think that suits you." Troy said with a shake of his head, trying not to laugh.

"At least you're honest." Gabriella said quietly, looking down at her dress.

"Why don't you wear the outfit that you wore when you visited the children's hospital?" Rosy suggested, pulling out a bubble gum pink pencil skirt and a white blouse.

"No thank you." Gabriella said with a sarcastic smile, hating that outfit more than words could describe.

"Don't you have something more…?" Troy started, trying to think of a word that wouldn't suggest anything perverted.

"Revealing, slutty, flamboyant?" Gabriella listed with a laugh.

Troy shrugged and glanced down at the pile of clothing on the floor by his feet.

"Can't you wear jeans and a t-shirt?" Troy asked her, folding his arms over his chest as he watched her sigh dreamingly.

"Drew would have a fit… I don't remember the last time I wore jeans." She said as she walked over to the window next to her bed, squinting as the bright ray of sun fell upon her. Troy tried not to notice the way her skin seemed to glow as the sun hit her.

"I'm not exactly an expert on fashion." Troy said as he watched her, smirking as she laughed, throwing her arms in the air.

"Once again… I hate being the President's daughter!" Gabriella said to both Rosy and Troy. She grabbed a white sweater off of her bed and put it on, not caring anymore about what she was going to wear. She would be ugly for this date and she accepted that as she walked past Troy and out of the room, going towards the front of the house where Drew would be soon.

***

Troy tapped his foot to the music that was playing in the limo, keeping his eyes straight ahead of him as he tried not to eavesdrop on Gabriella and Drew's conversation. The palms of his hands burned as his nails dug into them, trying to keep him from laughing at the comments the two "lovebirds" kept making. Their relationship was so extremely fake that he was starting to wonder if they were actually dating or if Gabriella only said she had a boyfriend to get out of the house for a while, but then he'd glance over just as Drew was leaning over to kiss her and he saw how she smiled lovingly at him before closing the gap between them. Charles cleared his throat when the kiss started to get heated and Troy had to keep his laughter sealed behind his lips yet again.

"Charles, is something wrong?" Gabriella asked him as Drew laughed quietly, keeping his hand on her knee.

"Kissing can result in cold sores and chapped lips." Charles said with a nod, staying serious as Gabriella frowned.

"And let's not forget about gingivitis." Troy said with a smirk, watching as Gabriella slumped back into her seat, folding her arms over her chest.

Charles' serious face lightened up slightly as a smile appear on his face and Troy smiled too, secretly communicating with Charles that they would keep this up. Gabriella let out an annoyed sigh, one that Troy had heard constantly since she met him, and she kept her eyes straight ahead as she listened to the music.

Once the limo was parked in a reserved space behind the restaurant that they were attending, the group of four stepped out of the limo, inhaling the cool air of the night. Troy and Charles followed closely behind Gabriella as she walked hand in hand with her boyfriend and as Charles kept a close eye on them, Troy took that opportunity to look around the restaurant.

The restaurant was lit with candles and fancy lighting, and the crowd that sat at the many tables looked to be important, rich people. This place was definitely a restaurant that Troy wouldn't even think about taking a date of his too; it read MARRY ME NOW and the smell floating in the air smelt expensive. His attention was drawn in front of him when he heard a familiar giggle.

"This is so romantic." Gabriella smiled over at Drew, giggling as he pulled her close to him before following the waiter over to a table in the middle of the restaurant.

Charles stood by the entrance of the restaurant, keeping his eyes on Gabriella and Drew from the place only about fifteen feet away from them. Troy, however, stood further away in viewing distance of Charles and the couple in the middle, only he was by the kitchen door, next to the bar. A few people looked oddly at the two built men, but knowing that the President's daughter was in attendance, they didn't seem too interested for a long period of time.

Troy rolled his eyes for the hundredth time since he had been watching Gabriella and Drew and he tried not to gag as Drew and Gabriella gave each other love taps with their feet underneath the table. As he scanned the restaurant to find something more interesting to look at, he noticed a familiar blonde sitting at a table occupied completely with about ten other women, laughing beautifully as she sat in her sparkly pink dress.

He watched as the woman twirled a piece of her hair around her index finger and finally after a few minutes, she looked up and noticed him watching her from across the restaurant. Her smile widened and she mumbled something to her friends before standing up slowly.

Gabriella was laughing at something Drew had said when she saw the most beautiful woman walking past her table and her eyes widened when she realized who it was. She just so happened to be the most famous fashion-icon in the country! And she was walking over to… TROY?

"Drew! Look who it is!" Gabriella said quickly, waving off Drew as he started to tell her another story.

He looked around slowly, wondering who she was talking about.

"The woman in the pink?" He asked her. "Who is that?"

"That's Sharpay Evans!" Gabriella said excitedly. "She is gorgeous!"

Drew smirked as he watched the excitement in Gabriella grow and he nodded too, because Sharpay Evans really was gorgeous. Gabriella's mouth hung open as Sharpay stopped next to Troy, standing next to him with a laugh, looking out at the restaurant after Troy had said something to her. Apparently, Troy was still serious about keeping an eye on Gabriella because he just told the most famous girl in fashion to stand next to him instead of in front of him so he could still work while talking to her.

"So, this is what you did with your life?" Sharpay asked Troy, her good friend from high school, as they both looked out at the restaurant. The table of girls Sharpay had been sitting with were watching them, giggling probably about how hot Troy was.

"Not really." Troy said with a shrug, keeping his voice quiet so not to disturb customers around him. "The opportunity came up and I took it. I don't plan on being here forever." He explained to his friend.

"Weren't you going to be a famous basketball player or a police officer the last time I checked?" She asked him, moving her hair behind her back so that it wasn't blocking the front of her dress.

"Yeah, but things change." Troy nodded. "At least one of us did what we planned on doing."

Sharpay smiled, looking over at Troy who still hadn't taken his eyes off of the couple sitting in the middle of the room. The perfume that she was wearing radiated off of her and Troy inhaled subtly. It reminded him so much of high school and he smiled softly, looking over at her.

"Yeah, well, the opportunity came up." She smiled, nudging him playfully. "It's good seeing you again, Troy." She said, giggling as she went to hug him, seeing him give her an annoyed expression because he wasn't one to be friendly in front of an audience.

As she was hugging him, she heard a raspy voice close to her ear and she gasped quickly pulling away from Troy, somewhat frightened by the odd voice.

"Sorry." Troy said quickly as he pressed on the ear piece that was on his ear, saying something back to Charles, who was talking to him through their barely visible technology. "I'm not supposed to hug pedestrians while working. You just got me in trouble, Evans." He laughed softly.

"I'm no pedestrian." Sharpay said as she looked at the clear ear piece in his ear in wonder. "Who do you work for, anyways?" She asked.

"I'm not allowed to say." He told her seriously, looking back out at the restaurant. Sharpay followed his gaze and she noticed the couple in the middle of the restaurant, both of them glancing periodically over at her.

"That woman looks awfully like the President's daughter." Sharpay said to him with an eyebrow raise. She crossed her arms slowly and looked more closely at the girl who just so happened to have an American flag pinned on the collar of her ugly outfit.

Troy cleared his throat, watching as Drew handed the waiter his credit card with a nod.

"Oh my God, Troy Bolton, that's the President's daughter… you're part of the secret service?" She assumed in a whisper.

"I can't answer that." Troy said to her, watching as she shook her head.

"I'm so telling the guys this." Sharpay said to him. "Unless they know already…"

"They do." Troy said.

"Oh, so you just liked to keep me out of this secret?"

"It's not a secret; they just dared me to do it." Troy smirked, watching Sharpay as she swatted him on the arm.

"Goodnight, Troy Bolton." Sharpay said as she started to walk away from him with a playfully angry expression on her face. "You'll be hearing from me. I have the White House on speed dial number four." She explained, giving him a friendly smile after, walking back to her table, sparkling brightly as the lighting bounced off of her sparkly pink dress.

***

After the limo had dropped Drew off at his mansion, Gabriella sat giddily against the soft seat of the car and smiled lovingly as she remembered the perfect kiss that Drew had placed on her lips before he departed. Troy was looking out the window as she looked over at him and she wondered why Sharpay Evans had given him a hug, or even talked to him in the first place.

Her thoughts raced in her mind as she sat quietly in her regular seat of the limo and she kicked off her ugly shoes as she neared her house. Once they were parked in the White House parking area, she got out with Charles and Troy giving her room as she went into the house, gliding down the hallways in happiness. After stopping to see her dad, Gabriella walked to her room, seeing Troy already standing by her door, which she thought was nice, considering usually he was always following her.

She pulled down on her door knob, pushing her door open about halfway before she stopped, looking over at Troy in curiosity.

"How do you know Sharpay Evans?" She asked him.

Troy glanced over at her, quickly looking away when he made eye contact with her. He shrugged, not sure if he really wanted to let her know about who he knew and who he didn't.

"I've known her my whole life." He said to her.

"How?" Gabriella asked, putting a hand on her hip as she looked at him.

"She went to my elementary school." Troy replied.

"What elementary school did _you_ go to? Because I can't imagine Sharpay Evans going anywhere other than an expensive private school." Gabriella replied.

"Everyone doesn't start off successful and those who are successful now didn't have to go to a private school for kindergarten just to become who they are." Troy said to her, somewhat offended by the way she had asked him about his education.

"Oh… well…" Gabriella started, not sure of what to say in response to that. "Does she live here or something?"

"She's here for business." Troy answered.

Gabriella sensed that Troy wasn't into explaining anything that related to him, so she only nodded and stopped asking questions about his successful friend. He definitely seemed to be a seriously angry person as he stood there, but she knew that anyone who worked for her family had to be analyzed thoroughly before getting the job, so he _couldn't_ be crazy or something… but she wondered why he didn't like talking to her and why he seemed to want to be anywhere but with her.

"So, do you think you could have my coffee ready in the morning?" She asked him as she opened her door more to go inside.

"Do I look like your personal assistant?" He asked her, surprising her because she was used to hearing 'Yes, Miss Montez' when she asked people things like that.

"No." She said unsurely.

"Then you have your answer." He said, looking away from her as she gave him an annoyed look, closing the door behind her after telling him he was rude.

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**Like it? Review!**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	3. Unexpected

**So, I legitimately forgot that it was the weekend and that I had to update. School has it's way of doing that though, which I resent most definitly. Anyways, sorry that I didn't update over the weekend, I'll update twice this week in return! Enjoy!**

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter three

Unexpected

Troy nodded as he saw Charles walking down the hallway towards him. He was laughing softly to himself as he stopped to talk to Troy. The door to Gabriella's room was still closed, but Rosy had just gone in to wake her up and her annoyed groan could be heard through the small crack under the door.

"There's a visitor for Miss Montez and she refuses to be searched by anyone. We think she might let you… search her." Charles chuckled with a shake of his head.

"What makes you say that?" Troy asked with a laugh.

"She ordered me to get you." Charles explained to him.

Troy's eyebrows scrunched in confusion as he left his post to go to the front door of the white house, wondering who even knew he worked there and as he approached, seeing a few amused security guards standing away from the blonde in the center of the foyer, he laughed, shaking his head.

"Shar, what are you doing here?" He asked, causing the group to look over at him as he approached his friend.

"I'm here to give the President's daughter a needed make over. I saw those clothes she was wearing yesterday and decided to extend my business trip. This is a federal emergency."

"It's just clothing." One of the security guards said with a laugh, causing Troy to shot him a look that meant he had went too far.

"I've made my fortune on clothing, thank you very much and those shoes you are wearing, mister, are way nineteen seventies and anything from later than the eighties is a crime." She spat, causing the man to take a step back, not wanting to see her become any angrier.

"Miss, we need to search you before you come any further into the house." One of the other security guards said.

"Bolton, search me already before I decide not to help the young woman in need of serious fashion help." Sharpay said to Troy, waving to her crew that had come with her, so that they'd be searched by the other members of the security staff.

Troy laughed as Sharpay slapped him on the chest when he was done and she blushed deeply as he took a step away from her, done with what he had to do. She rolled her eyes, seeing her assistance waiting for her for directions.

"Don't tell your brother about that." Sharpay said seriously.

"Don't worry, that'd be the last thing I tell him." Troy told her with a smile, leading her and her assistances with suitcases of clothing to Gabriella's room.

Troy shushed the group of perfectly tanned and manicured group of women as he knocked on Gabriella's door and he waited with a sigh for her to open her door. When she did, her eyes widened and she looked at Troy evilly. She was currently dressed like she was about to make an important speech at some kind of old folks home, but truthfully, she was just dressed for her regular day. Sharpay gasped. She needed serious help.

"Hey, girl, I'm Sharpay Evans, and I'm here to save you." She smiled.

"Save me from what?" Gabriella asked in awe of the fact that Sharpay had just called her _girl_.

"From yourself." Sharpay answered, pushing her way into the room as Troy shook his head, staying in his spot next to her door as the team of people disappeared behind the closed door.

"No offense or anything…" Gabriella started as Sharpay told her people to set up a wall that would give Gabriella some privacy while changing. "But why are you here… besides the fact that my clothing is disastrous."

"Well, I'm glad you just admitted that. That's the first step to this process." Sharpay said with a smile as she pulled open the chest of drawers that Gabriella kept some of her clothes in. "I'm here primarily for the fact that the President's daughter must look as good as she feels _and_ because I wanted to check out the place that captivated my good friend Troy Bolton." She explained as she pulled out all of Gabriella's clothing, shoving them into a black bag that one of her assistance was holding open.

"Okay, well, I have to admit, that I feel as bad as my clothes look… and what are you doing with all of my clothes?" She asked her, eyeing the now full garbage bag.

"I'm donating them to charity and the good news is that the clothes that I'm donating to _you_ will make you feel a lot better than you feel now." She smiled. "I'm here to help the needy."

"I'm not poor… so I don't really need help." Gabriella said unsurely because Sharpay Evans was starting to talk about her as if she just walked off the street with her.

"Oh, but you do. Anyone who wears that outfit just for fun has to be somewhat mentally unstable."

"Excuse me?" Gabriella said in an offended tone.

"Oh, shit. I forgot I was talking to the President's daughter, my bad!" Sharpay said with a nod.

"No problem…" Gabriella said quietly. "My name's Gabriella… so you can stop calling me the President's daughter." She nodded, watching as more of her clothes made their way out of the room in plastic bags to be piled up in the hallway.

"Will do, Gabs." Sharpay said with a smile, pulling out a silky hot pink robe, which she threw to Gabriella. "Change into this and hand me over that outfit. It'll be the last time you'll see it."

Gabriella smiled softly and walked over to the make-shift changing room and tossed her clothes over the top of the divider to Sharpay. As she did, she couldn't help but feel like her new wardrobe would make a new her, and at least make her feel normal for once.

"So, your hair is adorably fabulous already, but you need to _stop_ wearing it up. Wearing your hair down naturally is in now, so take advantage of the trends." Sharpay started to explain. "Also, you need outfits that don't make you look like you _are_ the President's daughter because to be honest with you, that alone is prison, so you don't need outfits that make you look like you're in it, got it?"

"Is this your way of being nice?" Gabriella asked.

"No, this is my way of doing business. I'm generally a nice person; I just can't stand clothing like this on a beautiful girl like you." She answered her with a smile.

Sharpay looked over at the brunette woman who was putting more clothes in a black bag and she stopped her quickly when she saw a piece of clothing that was _suitable_ and she plucked it from the pile of t-shirts, holding it up so Gabriella could see it.

"This is the only thing you are keeping." Sharpay said as she held up the Lakers basketball t-shirt.

"Why? Because it's the most normal shirt I have?" She asked her in confusion.

"No, because my future brother-in-law plays for the Lakers." She said with a smile. "And you need to support him."

"You're engaged?" Gabriella asked with a smile forming on her face, thinking it was romantic.

"No." Sharpay said dully. "But I will be." She cheered up with that thought and smiled again, letting all of the old clothing leave the room before she started her job.

"Who's your future brother-in-law?" Gabriella asked her.

"Chad Danforth. I've known him since kindergarten." Sharpay explained, going over to a large wardrobe chest that she- more like her crew- had lugged up to the room.

"You know Chad _Danforth_? He's like amazing at playing basketball!" Gabriella exclaimed in shock. "But… I guess since you're you, you would know people like him."

"Yeah, well, I guess I got pretty lucky then." Sharpay replied with a nod. "Ready to get started?" She asked with a smile.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Absolutely not."

After what felt like hours, Gabriella was officially in heaven. No, Sharpay didn't hit her over the head with a sparkly pair of boots, causing her to die painfully, but she did give her jeans and jeans were exactly what Gabriella always wanted and finally, someone gave her a pair… even if they _were_ an extremely expensive pair of designer jeans.

"I love them." Gabriella said with a smile, looking at the pair of pants longingly as she did a little dance because they fit her perfectly.

"Girl, I gave you fifty designer dresses and you nearly cry over a pair of jeans?" Sharpay said with a shake of her head.

"You don't understand, I don't even remember the last time I wore jeans. I've been wearing all of those my whole life." Gabriella said, pointing to the black bags that were full of her old wardrobe.

"I'd be crying too." Sharpay laughed.

"Thank you, Sharpay." Gabriella said sincerely as she looked at her closet that was now full of brand new fashionable clothing. "I needed this."

"You're welcome. I know when someone needs my help and you definitely did. But I kind of need something in return." Sharpay told her.

"Name it and you got it… unless it's something that will destroy the country… I can't help you with that and I'd have to report you to the FBI or something."

"People don't ask you for favors often, do they?" Sharpay asked with a laugh.

"Not exactly."

"I just want you to make sure Troy's okay." Sharpay said quietly. "I don't want him to be lonely or anything because he's a long ways away from home… and he's had a rough time lately."

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asked her in a whisper, watching as everything extra that Sharpay had brought with her was being packed up.

"I don't really think I should tell you. It's personal." Sharpay explained.

"You know… Troy doesn't exactly talk to me. He's very standoffish, but that's basically his job, so I don't know how much I can do." Gabriella told her with a nod.

"If I tell you his secret, do you promise to make it your top priority to make sure he's okay?" Sharpay asked quietly, her happy face becoming serious as she thought of her friend.

Gabriella nodded, swallowing roughly because it had been ages since someone told her a secret or anything that would cause her any kind of stress. People around this house kept things from her like it was their job to do so.

"Troy's dad adopted his two best friend's sons about four years ago when they were sixteen. They're Chad Danforth and Zeke Baylor, the guy I'm seriously dating, and they're also Troy's best friends." Sharpay started quietly.

"What happened?" Gabriella asked worriedly, feeling her heart sink into her stomach as she listened to the story about her body guard. She'd never known anything this personal about anyone who worked at the White House.

"Well, Chad's parents, along with Zeke's parents and Troy's mom, went out for a night to get caught up with one another since it had been a while since they'd all been together… and when they were coming home, they got hit by a drunk driver and were all killed. The boys were out playing basketball when they got the news. It changed them for forever."

"Why wasn't Troy's dad with them?" Gabriella asked her.

"He had to work. He was a police officer and he had weird shifts that week." Sharpay explained to her.

"I'd feel so bad." Gabriella said to her with a shake of her head.

"I know." Sharpay said quietly. "And that's why I need you to keep an eye on Troy… I know this is weird since he's hired to take of you, but even he needs some taking care of." Sharpay nodded.

"I'll take care of him." Gabriella said with a nod. "I promise."

"Oh, and if you wear that Lakers t-shirt, I can guarantee that he will have a major crush on you. He loves a girl in sports wear." She laughed softly, changing the mood to a happier one.

"I have a boyfriend… so that probably wouldn't be a good idea." Gabriella nodded.

"That's too bad." Sharpay said with a smirk. "I think it's time for me to go. I wouldn't want to keep the President's daughter tied up."

"And for a second there I thought I was normal." Gabriella joked; liking that for the entire time she was with Sharpay she was called Gabs, not 'President's daughter' or 'Miss Montez'.

"It was nice meeting you, Gabs." Sharpay said as she stood up, walking to the door since her staff was already gone, probably packing up their things.

"You too. I'll walk you out, if you want me to."

"That would be fabulous." Sharpay said with a smile as she opened the heavy door of Gabriella's room, stepping out to find Troy still in the same spot. "God, Troy, aren't you _tired_ of just standing there?" Sharpay asked.

"I took a lunch break, no." He replied simply as Gabriella walked out the door in jeans and a t-shirt with her hair let down.

"Come walk me out, Bolton." Sharpay said with a smile, linking her arm with his as Gabriella walked in front of them with a giggle, leading them to the front garage of the White House, where she knew Sharpay's car must have been taken.

As they were walking, Sharpay couldn't help but notice that Troy was watching Gabriella intently, only it wasn't the kind of watching that someone would do if they had to protect them, it was more of a you're-hot-it-sucks-that-you-have-a-boyfriend look. She nudged him with a laugh, causing him to look away from her.

"What?" He asked in a whisper.

"Nothing." Sharpay smiled.

Gabriella waved at Sharpay as she took off in her pink car and she smiled as she watched her disappear behind the gates of the White House quickly. She turned towards the entrance of the garage, stepping up the few stairs to go back into the house, and she eyed Troy as he let her get a few feet ahead of him before starting to walk. Gabriella made her way towards the kitchen and inhaled the smell of the cooking food.

Her parents were gone to some third world country, one she couldn't remember the name of now, and she smiled at the chef who set her plate down on the island of the kitchen. She was used to this eating alone thing because her parents were often in places she wasn't, and she usually would talk to Charles while she ate, but unfortunately, Charles wasn't with her anymore and she was stuck with the stone cold Troy.

Gabriella plopped a cooked carrot in her mouth, looking out the window of the kitchen into the backyard where it was now dark out, the fountain in the back lighting up the area around it.

"You can sit down if you want." Gabriella said when she noticed that Troy was shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

The cooks cleaning up the kitchen looked over at Troy, seeing the new body guard for the first time today. They smiled at him when he looked over at them, wondering if he was even allowed to sit down on the job.

"I won't tell." Gabriella told him as she continued to eat.

Troy hesitated at first, but then took a seat on the bar stool across from her, keeping his attention mainly on the cooks walking around the kitchen and also on the view from the kitchen window instead of on her.

"Are you hungry?" Gabriella asked him after a while of silence.

"No. I'm fine." He said with a small nod.

"When's your shift done? You look kind of tired." Gabriella told him as she took a sip from the glass of milk that was set in front of her.

"It won't be done until you're sleeping, Miss Montez." He informed her quietly.

Gabriella nodded slowly as she finished her meal, feeling the silence of the room become more and more awkward as it took longer for her to finally stand up, only when she did, she took the back door, venturing outside instead of going back to her room.

Troy sighed to himself as he stood by the door of the kitchen while Gabriella started to go on a mini walk. She turned when she noticed that he wasn't following her.

"Aren't you going to follow me?" She asked him. "You always do inside."

Troy shrugged.

"There's more security out here." Troy told her. "Besides, you need some air."

"So do you. Come on." She said as she gestured for him to come with her. "And you don't have to follow me. We can actually walk side by side." She informed him.

Troy unsurely walked next to her, scanning the large garden of tall bushes as they walked quietly. He nodded as he passed a member of the security team and he slowed as Gabriella did by the large fountain. The glow of the lights underneath the water caused a shimmering glitter to reflect against them and Gabriella smiled as she inhaled the cool air.

"Who's your favorite basketball team?" Gabriella asked Troy as they started to walk again, wanting to start a conversation.

"Does it matter?" Troy asked her with a sigh.

"Yeah, it does." Gabriella said with an eye roll, annoyed that he always made talking difficult.

"Lakers."

"Me too."

"Yeah?" Troy asked surprised as he glanced over at her.

"Before my dad was President we would go to tons of games." Gabriella explained. "We haven't though lately for obvious reasons. Who's you favorite player?" She asked.

"Probably Chad Danforth." Troy answered, causing her to smile softly as she looked over at him.

"Why's that?" She asked him curiously.

Troy shrugged and looked away from Gabriella when she caught his gaze.

"He seems like a cool guy, I guess." Troy answered, causing another smile to form on Gabriella's face.

"His hair's funny too." Gabriella giggled as she thought of his unruly hair.

Troy smiled to himself, surprising Gabriella as she saw it and she had a feeling Troy noticed that she was surprised.

"Yeah, it is." Troy nodded, sticking his hands in his pockets as they continued their walk, only now they weren't saying anything more. The wind picked up somewhat and the smell of an approaching winter hung in the air.

Gabriella's attention was drawn to the tall bush that was in front of them when she heard a rustling sound coming from behind it. Her heart started to pound slightly and she stopped quickly, causing Troy to do the same.

"Was that just me, or did it sound like there's something behind that bush?" She asked Troy, noticing the way Troy moved closer to her as he heard her question.

"I didn't hear anything." Troy said quietly.

"It must have been my imagin-"

Gabriella's sentence didn't continue as she scream, seeing a man dressed in all black jump up from behind the bush, being blinded by a bright flash coming from his expensive looking camera. Within seconds, Troy was already lunging towards him, punching him so hard that he was knocked to the ground and as Gabriella started to run in the opposite direction, four more security members patrolling the back yard were already coming to assist Troy with the trespassing danger.

When Gabriella looked behind her as she got closer to the kitchen, she saw Troy running after her, so fast in fact that by the time she got to the door, he was already there, pushing her inside as the kitchen staff closed the door behind them, locking it quickly while the two disappeared into the hallway, running all the way into Gabriella's room.

Gabriella was dizzy as Troy closed the door behind them and she put her hand to her head as she tried to control her breathing. Troy was now looking under her bed, making sure no one had gotten in the room while they were gone. He closed the curtains after checking behind them and then walked into her bathroom, looking in the shower and behind the doors, going over to the closet, where the smell of Sharpay hit him, shaking his head, he looked in the closet, closing it when he found nothing but a new wardrobe.

When he turned to face Gabriella she was fanning her face, breathing oddly as she kept her feet planted on the ground. He stopped in his spot, catching his breath too as he felt his hand throbbing because of the hard punch he had given the camera man and he pushed a loose piece of hair out of his eyes.

"Are you having a panic attack?" He asked her quickly when she sounded like she was hyperventilating.

"I think so." She squeaked, fanning her face quicker as he began to worry.

"I'm not trained to handle this kind of stuff!" He said quickly.

"You're not trained to handle burglars?!" She asked in shock as she looked up at him worriedly.

"No! Women!" He explained as she began to breathe even more quickly. "Maybe I should get a doctor or something, are you okay?"

"I can't feel my legs." Gabriella said as she coughed, trying to calm herself down as her knees gave out from under her.

Troy noticed Gabriella's pale face and within seconds she was falling and he caught her quickly before she could hit the floor. She grabbed onto his arm when she felt him near her and her heart beat quickened even more when he scooped her up in his arms, walking over to her bed to set her down.

The comfort of her bed made her calm down some as she looked up at the ceiling that was barely visible because of the darkness of the room. Her hand was still clenched around his arm as he caught his breath next to her bed.

"I'm going to go get someone." He decided, knowing that he was the last person that could help her.

"No." Gabriella said quickly. "Just… stay here until we know he's gone."

Troy's stomach churned as he pulled the comfy chair next to her bathroom door over to him without even moving from his spot by Gabriella. He sat down in it, feeling Gabriella's hand still on him as the darkness of the room became greater. He could tell that Gabriella was still panicking because he could still hear her deep breathing, but as she put her arm over her eyes and let go of Troy slowly, she started to relax, trying not to let any tears fall from her eyes because today was unexpected… in more ways than one.

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**Like it? Review! This is basically where the story starts... the last few chapters just introduced the story.**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	4. Get Him Out Of Here

**Hola! Here's chapter four! There's not much to say, other than the fact that I spent the week taking the ACTs, so I'm happy to be done with that! Enjoy! **

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter four

Get Him Out of Here

Mr. Montez was not happy- the President of the United States of America was not happy- and he was currently charging into the White House with his wife equally as _concerned _as he was. The head of security, Brian Wallace, was with him, answering all questions being asked by his boss.

"How'd this happen?" President Montez asked as his pace quickened as he took the path to his daughter's room.

"Sir, we're thinking the man might have hopped the fence. There's no security tape that saw him come from the front. We're pressing serious charges, no doubt."

"Why the hell did he have a camera with him and why was he after my daughter?" President Montez asked.

"We're not sure why he tried photographing Miss Montez, but he's from a gossip magazine, that we know." Wallace informed him. "They'll do anything for a story."

"Who got to him first?" He asked quickly, wanting the most information in the least amount of time.

"Mr. Bolton knocked him out before he could even try to get a second picture. He was with Gabriella when it happened."

"How'd he do that, might I ask?" President Montez asked as anger was still present on his face.

"Well… he punched him, Mr. President."

"Impressive." President Montez said quickly. "Where's he now? Has his next shift started yet?"

"He never went home, sir." Wallace answered him. "He guarded Gabriella through the night; apparently she had some kind of panic attack. Nothing serious, but she asked that he stay with her."

"Has she woken up yet?" Mrs. Montez asked.

"Not that I know of, Mrs. Montez." Wallace said as they neared the closed door of Gabriella's room.

Mr. Montez knocked quickly on the door of his daughter's room and he pushed the door open without waiting for a reply. When he walked in, Gabriella was sleeping peacefully at the edge of the bed, and Troy was standing quickly from the chair that he had been sitting at as he watched over to her.

"Morning, Mr. President." Troy said quietly with a nod.

"Can I speak to you outside, Mr. Bolton?" President Montez asked as his wife walked over to their daughter, sitting on the edge of the bed as she woke her up carefully.

Troy nodded as he followed the head of security and the President out the door. When Gabriella opened her eyes, the first thing that she saw was the empty chair next to her and then the back of Troy disappearing behind the door. She sat up quickly, just now noticing her mom next to her, causing her to jump slightly.

"We just got home." Mrs. Montez explained to her with a smile, brushing a loose strand of Gabriella's hair out of her face.

"Where's dad?" Gabriella asked her.

"He's talking to Troy in the hallway." She informed her with the same smile on her face. "I'm sure he's giving him the day off."

"Why would he do that?" Gabriella asked her in wonder, watching as he mom stood up to go towards the window, pulling the curtains open.

"He stayed here all night, sweetheart. Apparently, you had a panic attack?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it that." Gabriella lied as she stood up from her bed, running a hand through her long hair. "It was just a surprise." She explained.

"Where are you going?" Mrs. Montez asked her daughter as she walked towards the door.

"I'm making sure dad's not blaming Troy." Gabriella explained as she opened the door.

"…so you can get that hand fixed."

"Thank you, Mr. President."

Gabriella saw the three men standing in the hallway as she exited her room and she smiled when she saw her dad patting Troy on the shoulder as Troy started to walk away with Brian Wallace. Mr. Montez turned to look at his daughter, sighing as he saw her.

"You okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Where's Troy going?" Gabriella asked curiously.

"I told him to take the rest of the day off so he could get some sleep and get his hand looked at. It's badly bruised." He answered.

"I'm sorry that this ended your trip early." Gabriella said honestly. "I know that you like them."

"It's not your fault, sweet heart." He told her with a nod. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"Me too." Gabriella smiled up at him.

"Well, I have a press conference in about twenty minutes, and I still don't know what I'm going to say, so I'll have to talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay." Gabriella nodded. "I'll get changed and watch you on TV."

Mr. Montez smiled as his daughter as he descended down the hallway in the same way Troy had and she went back into her room where her mom was making comments about her new wardrobe, only she wasn't listening to them. She definitely had other things on her mind.

***

Gabriella's eyes were squinted in a suspicious glare as the freshly printed newspaper was slammed harshly on the dinning room table, one that she was occupying herself because everyone else who would have been sitting there was off at the press conference. Her boyfriend Drew was now ranting on and on about the bold headline that was hanging above the picture of his girlfriend and her _body guard_.

"I'm gone for one _second_ and you have a new wardrobe and are already up to your neck in rumors because of some guy?" Drew said angrily as he walked over to the long window, breathing deeply as he tried to calm himself down. "This could seriously affected your father's reelection _and_ make my dad's job harder!"

Gabriella had somewhat blocked her angry boyfriend's voice out as she lifted the newspaper to see the front page. It read in large lettering **"President's Daughter gets a New Look and a New Hunk to protect her Designer Jeans! What's next?"**

"It's not like I did this on purpose, Drew. I went for a walk in my backyard! How would I have known that this was going to happen! You're making this out as if it's all my fault." Gabriella said as she tossed the paper back onto the table, seeing Drew making his way back over to her. He was hunched over the table, looking Gabriella directly in her eyes.

"You have to be aware that these things will happen! You don't know when you'll walk outside next and there will be bullets coming right towards you… you have to be prepared for anything." Drew explained to her.

"Shut up."

Drew was taken back when he heard the direct order from his girlfriend and he stood up straight slowly as she did, slamming in her chair as she looked at him.

"Don't ever give me warnings about what could happen to me or my family. I _know_ what can happen, alright?" She spat harshly, seeing from the corner of her eyes, someone coming into the room, standing by the door quietly.

"What has gotten into you, Gabriella?" Drew asked with a shake of his head. "It's like those stupid jeans of yours have cut off your circulation and you've become… become mentally ill!"

Gabriella gasped as she looked at her once-perfect boyfriend.

"That's medically impossible you dumb ass! And these jeans are not stupid! They're designer!" She said as she started to make her way towards the door of the dining room, surprised when she turned to see Troy standing there, his hand wrapped in a white bandage.

"Are you really going to throw a temper tantrum?" Drew asked as he followed her out of the room and into the hall. "I'm just telling you the truth."

"Did you ever think about keeping the truth to yourself for my sake?" Gabriella asked as she spun around to look at him, shoving him slightly as he came too close to her.

Drew gave her a pity laugh as he shook his head.

"We're done!" Gabriella told him as she fidgeted with something on her finger.

Troy watched awkwardly from his spot a good ten feet away from them and he raised his eyebrows as he saw Gabriella pull off a ring from her finger, one that he hadn't even noticed until now.

"Babe, you're over reacting."

"No, you underestimated what I would do in this situation." Gabriella said as she shoved the ring into his suit pocket. "Troy…"

"Yes, Miss Montez?" Troy said as he started to walk towards the no longer happy couple.

"Get him out of here, please." She said as her voice cracked slightly, watching as Troy's hand carefully grabbed the arm of her ex-boyfriend's.

"Come with me, sir." Troy said with a nod, pulling his suit collar towards his mouth to communicate with other members of security. "Knight in Shining Armor is being escorted out… for good, boys. I need someone to meet me in the garage."

"Get your hands off of me!" Drew said angrily.

Troy smirked as he held onto him tighter, pulling him away as Gabriella walked in the opposite direction, trying obviously to stay strong until she was out of viewing distance from the both of them.

Troy walked slowly back to Gabriella's room once Drew, who spent the entire time grumbling about _that bitch_, had been escorted out of the building. He could have guessed that the perfect on-the-outside guy that Gabriella used to be fond of wasn't as good as he seemed to be. Informing Charles about the recent break up through his walkie-talkie-like device on his collar, Troy stood outside of Gabriella's door, looking around at the row of pictures lined up in front of him of former guests at the White House.

***

It had been the third time Troy knocked on Gabriella's door, following orders given by the President that she needed to come out for dinner, but she wasn't in the mood for socializing and no longer had an appetite. Troy sighed as he heard no response from the other side of the door and he stepped away from it again.

"Mr. Bolton, didn't I tell you to take the rest of the day off?" President Montez asked as he approached him, smiling softly at him as he looked caught off guard.

"Yes, Mr. President, but I got my hand looked at and decided to come back… I'm glad I did, considering…"

"Charles informed me about the break up." President Montez nodded, knocking on his daughter's door just like Troy had before.

"Troy! Stop knocking on my door!" They both heard from the other side of the door, laughing softly together.

"I see you've tried already." President Montez said quietly to Troy.

"Three times, sir." Troy replied with a smirk.

"It's dad." President Montez said loudly so that Gabriella would hear him.

"I'm not hungry. Can't you eat without me? I look like crap."

"No, come on out and we can talk about it. No one is here to see you anyways, so it doesn't matter what you look like."

"That's because I just broke up with the only person who ever came to see me!" Gabriella cried from her room.

"Wrong thing to say, wasn't it?" President Montez asked Troy with a soft chuckle.

"Yeah." Troy nodded.

"Come out here, Gabs, this is ridiculous, you've been in there all day."

President Montez waited with his hands in his pocket as he heard movement on the other side of the door. Troy heard the door knob move and after a few seconds, Gabriella appeared from behind the door, eyes red and puffy with her navy blue Lakers t-shirt.

"I hate guys." Gabriella grumbled as she limply walked out of her room. "They suck."

"I've heard that a few times." President Montez said with a soft smile as he and Gabriella started to make their way down the hallway.

Troy stayed by Gabriella's door, letting the two walk together as they talked. He didn't want to hear the conversation about how much Gabriella hated her ex-boyfriend either, which was why he stayed behind. Gabriella took a deep breath after ranting to her dad about her waste of time with Drew and felt like something was missing as they continued to walk. She looked behind her, noticing now that Troy wasn't following them. He was still by her room, watching her as she walked down the hallway, probably, she thought, checking her out in her Lakers t-shirt.

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**Like it? Review!**

**Much love, **

**unknownbyhim22**


	5. Yale

**Thanks for all of the reviews, guys! Here's chapter five! Enjoy!**

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter five

Yale

The White House was peacefully quiet and everything was in place, cleaned, and calm as usual, but inside the Oval Office, a negotiation was already in talks, causing the normal peace and quiet to be disrupted until it was figured out.

"Please, Dad!" Gabriella stood with her hands on her hips in front of her dad's desk, watching as he arranged a stack of papers with a shake of his head. He specifically remembered telling her not to interrupt him while he was working, but obviously it didn't seem important enough to her.

"No, Gabi." He said again, glancing over at Charles who was lounging on the couch in the middle of the room, eating M&Ms from a glass bowl perched on the edge.

"Come on, Dad. I want to know how it feels to go to a real college. I've been stuck in this house for years."

"You've gotten the privilege of staying here." President Montez corrected her with a nod, writing quickly on a sticky note that was on the stack of papers he had just perfected in a stack. "And you're taking courses online… that's just like real college."

"Really, Dad, you're going to feed me that…"

President Montez raised his eyebrows at her before she could chose to say the word she would have.

"…crap." She finished with a dejected sigh.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that, I don't know, you want to get miles away from Drew?" He asked as he leaned back in his chair, knowing that he wasn't going to get anything done fast.

"Psssssh…" Gabriella fake laughed at her dad and pointed her finger at him as if he had just made a great joke. "No, of course not." she shook her head.

"Alright, I'll make a deal with you." He said as he sat forward again, folding his hands on the desk in front of him as he looked up at his now hopeful daughter. "You can take a tour of any college of your choice, but you will continue taking your online courses and Troy has to go with you."

"How about everything except the Troy part." Gabriella negotiated with him, not wanting to get chaperoned at a simple college tour. She'd stick out like a sore thumb if she had a guy in a suit following her around.

"How about just the Troy part and you don't get to go at all." He said in more of an annoyed tone now, wanting to get back to work.

"Fine." Gabriella sighed while running a hand through her long hair. "Whatever." She added as she walked towards the door, pushing it open in annoyance, hearing no reassuring words from her father as the door closed behind her.

"I hope you have your bags packed." Gabriella said as she began power walking down the hallway, feeling frustrated already.

"Why?" Troy asked as he barely tried to keep up with her, rolling his eyes at yet another upset march down the hall.

"We're going to Yale." She stated.

"Of course we are."

***

Troy yawned for about the third time since he got up early in the morning and again he looked down at his navy blue Yale sweatshirt that Gabriella had given him to wear and he shook his head as he felt like his cool status was currently being ruined because of her. He rubbed his tired eyes as he looked out of the airplane window, inhaling the surprisingly fresh air while he shifted in his cushiony seat.

Gabriella was somewhere… he wasn't watching her or anything considering that this was her plane and there was security around everywhere. He was just concerned with getting some sleep because she had him working on his weekend off, causing him to be even crankier than usual.

As he was about to drift off into a quiet sleep, he felt someone's elbow hit his, pushing it off of the arm rest and onto his lap. He exhaled calmly, opening one eye lid at a time before he turned to the side slowly, seeing an excited Gabriella smiling at him.

"What'cha doing?" She asked him curiously, her long hair falling against his arm as she leaned against his arm rest, too close for comfort.

"What are _you_ doing?" Troy asked as he moved closer to the window, seeing that she was oddly happy.

Gabriella rolled her eyes, sitting back in the seat next to him as she sighed.

"I was trying to be nice to you, but there's no point. I'm bored." She explained, folding her hands in her lap as a passing flight attendant handed her a drink that she asked for earlier.

"You have an entire plane to yourself and why you chose to sit here is beyond me." Troy said to her with a shake of his head, wanting to get the day over already.

"Listen, you're going to be around me a lot for… I don't know how long… and I think it would be in our best interest to get to know each other or at least get along."

"I'll agree to getting along, but getting to know each other isn't what I signed up for." Troy replied as he set his head against the back of his seat.

"Well, in order to get along I have to know _some_ things about you so that I won't annoy you by doing something you don't like… or something." Gabriella went on, talking quickly and in one breath as she explained her logic to him.

"I don't like people talking to me." Troy said to her, looking at her seriously.

"You're going to have to get over that, buddy." Gabriella told him as she patted his arm quickly. "Let's play twenty questions!" She gasped at her own idea, excited to play this game with him.

"Isn't that what couples do in the movies to get to know each other?" Troy asked with an eyebrow raise.

"EW." Gabriella responded in distaste. "We're not a couple, nor will we be… so it doesn't matter, let's just play." She smiled.

"Whatever you say."

"Okay, so who wants to go first?" Troy looked at her with no expression as she asked, giving her an unclear go ahead to get on with it already.

"Obviously since you're going to be that way, I will." Gabriella said sarcastically, getting comfortable in her seat as he sighed tiredly. "What's your favorite color?"

Troy sighed again, rather not putting up a fight so that the game of twenty questions would get over relatively quickly.

"Blue." He responded simply.

"Oh, good! That means I picked the right sweatshirt for you." Gabriella smiled as she pointed to his blue sweatshirt.

"Lucky guess."

"Now it's your turn to ask me a question." Gabriella said after waiting a few seconds for him to say something.

"Oh, gee, what should I ask that I don't already know about you?" Troy said sarcastically out loud, pondering the thought momentarily as Gabriella's eyes narrowed in a squinted glare.

"What's that supposed to mean? You don't know anything about me."

"I know enough." He replied with a sigh.

"Fine." Gabriella said as she slowly stood up from her seat, moving away from him. "Then we won't play anymore. See you when we're on land." She mumbled, walking towards the back of the plane where a few young flight attendants sat playing card. She sat with them, looking back at Troy with an eye roll when she realized he had shut his eyes again to try to get some sleep instead of looking as if he felt bad for hurting her feelings.

Even though Troy was obviously not excited about taking the trip to Yale, Gabriella had been, but her excitement was replaced with an awkward memory when her dad made her and Troy come to his office before they left for a _talk_.

***

"_Here's the issue." President Montez started off when they both appeared before him in their matching Yale t-shirts and tired eyes, only Gabriella was smiling, Troy was trying to look like he was looking forward to this trip with Gabriella Montez. "I was okay with you two being around each other when Gabriella was dating Drew…" He seemed to be feeling awkward as he chose his words carefully._

_He stopped though when Troy made a noise, drawing his attention and Gabriella's to him. His lips were tightly pressed together and he was becoming red slowly as he held in a laugh._

"_Are you laughing?" Gabriella asked quickly, shoving him out of his uncomfortable position, which caused him to let out his loud laugh._

"_No." He regained his composer and shook his head, looking back at the President. _

"_As I was saying… there won't be anyone to stop you two from… how do I say this…"_

"_EW." Gabriella filled in for him, looking at Troy in surprise. "Does he really look like my type, Dad?"_

"_Yeah." Troy nodded with a laugh, adding his comments somewhat unprofessionally. "She's not my type."_

"_How am I not your type?" Gabriella asked slowly, flipping a part of her thick hair behind her shoulder, raising her eyebrows. _

_President Montez raised his eyebrows at the two, seeing that they really didn't get along and that it would be a while before he had to worry about them being attracted to each other. Because in all honesty, he knew that opposites attracted… but those who were alike fell in love, and they were more alike then they thought._

"_You're too much like Sharpay Evans."_

"_The fashion designer?" President Montez asked._

_Troy nodded, causing Gabriella to gasp._

"_I take that as a complement and the next time I talk to her I'm going to tell her that you said that." She nodded quickly, feeling better now that she had something on him._

"_When are you really going to talk to her again?" He asked her, sighing because he wasn't planning on having a casual conversation in front of the President._

"_I talk to her on the phone about every two days. We have a lot in common."_

"_See." Troy said, looking at the President as he said it. _

"_What do you have in common, sweetheart?" Her dad asked with a chuckle, knowing that he really didn't have to worry about their trip._

_Gabriella's innocent expression changed into one that Troy would have seen appear on Sharpay's face when she came up with one of her plans. A smile that crept up slowly. _

"_Troy Bolton." _

***

After the drive to Yale from the airport in the limo, Troy and Gabriella finally got out of the quiet car on the front lawn of the school. Gabriella's eyes lit up as if she was witnessing the ball drop in Times Square on New Years Eve and Troy looked around as if he was looking for someone. Neither though, looked at each other as they walked next to each other, still looking around.

"So, where are we going first?" Troy finally said after they stopped by a large tree, getting glanced at by passing students and faculty. Gabriella was still smiling and the morning breeze blew her hair in different directions as she looked at the large building.

"I think there's someone meeting us here to take us on a tour." She answered him, looking around to see if there was anyone important coming towards them.

"So, what, we're told to meet at the big oak tree by the library? How official." Troy said with an eye roll.

"Will you stop complaining? You should be honored to come to an Ivy League school like this. I am." She said, finally looking at him, seeing that his shaggy hair was moving softly in the wind and that he was no longer paying attention to her.

She followed his gaze and it fell upon a dark skinned girl, laughing with her girlfriends as she pointed to one of their books, looking to be explaining something. Gabriella furrowed her brow and then looked back at Troy who was surprising her with a genuine smile.

"Do you know her or something?" Gabriella asked him, bringing his attention back to her and before he could answer her, she heard his name exclaimed in the distance and then, right as she was turning to see who was there, Troy was being gently attacked with a hug by the girl he was just staring at.

They both laughed as Troy hugged her back, giving her a warm rub on the back as she finally looked up at him, then hugging him tightly yet again, causing them to laugh again. Gabriella felt as if she was watching a scene out of a movie, becoming uncomfortable as she stepped back to witness it.

"How are you?" The girl asked him, smiling up at him as he answered her, glancing at Gabriella.

"I'm good… here for a tour. Someone was supposed to meet us here." He answered her, seeing her smile widened as she heard him say _us_, meaning he was clearly here with someone else. Female maybe?

She looked at Gabriella, smiling at her and then she gave Troy a gentle shove.

"Is this your _girlfriend_?" She asked him in a whisper.

"No…"

"No." Gabriella interrupted Troy and she faced her, squinting slightly as she seemed to recognize her. "I'm Gabriella Montez and I'm here for a tour."

"Wait a minute. You're who?" She asked her with wide eyes, now noticing her as she envisioned her with her hair pulled back because that's the only way she'd ever seen her.

"Gabriella Montez and you are?" She tried to be polite, tried to keep a smile on her face as yet another person freaked at her identity.

"Taylor Mckessie, Troy's old friend." She said finally, shaking Gabriella's hand with a smile.

"Do you know a girl from every place we visit?" She asked Troy with an eyebrow raise, seeing him roll his eyes at her just because her presence annoyed him.

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked, looking at Troy curiously as they stood in a triangular position, all looking at each other.

"I saw Sharpay a few days ago." Troy explained with a shrug.

"I miss her so much." Taylor said in response, seeming to be truly serious as she started to think of her other old friend, one that she had always been close with, only now that Sharpay was a fashion icon, and she was still in school, they drifted apart and only talked on the phone monthly. "So. How about I give you a tour since no one is here to help you out?" She quickly changed the subject before she started to go down memory lane; most likely bringing something up that Troy wouldn't want to talk about.

"That'd be a lot more fun than having to listen to some old guy all day." Troy smiled as Taylor linked her arm with his, then as she turned to Gabriella, she linked her other arm with hers.

Gabriella smiled, noticing how quick all of Troy's friends were to accepting her as who she was, barely phased after a few minutes by the fact that she was the President's daughter. As they walked towards the entrance to the school, Taylor confronted her curiosity.

"So, like how does the President's daughter get to go off to Yale for a tour all by herself for the day?" Taylor asked Gabriella, looking over at her as she thought out loud.

"Actually, I'm not alone." Gabriella smiled shyly, shrugging at the obvious answer.

"Oh." Taylor's voice grew quieter and she looked around them. "Are there people following us?" She asked.

Gabriella giggled softly as Troy shook his head from the other side of Taylor. He smirked softly as he walked on without saying anything, letting Gabriella take care of the explanation.

"No." She shook her head, smiling at the dark skinned girl. "Troy's with me."

"I knew you were dating her!" Taylor turned to Troy quickly, giving him a playful look.

"No, he's definitely not dating me." Gabriella tried to explain.

"Way to build up my confidence, Montez." Troy said with a laugh.

"Maybe if you would have played twenty questions with me on the plane I would have known that that would have been an insult to you!" Gabriella said quickly back, glaring at him.

"I'm really confused."

"You know Taylor, for getting into Yale, you're very clueless." Troy said to his friend, getting a different looking glare from her, one that wasn't like Gabriella's recent one.

"Taylor," Gabriella laughed as she started, seeing Troy's friend looking back over at her. "He's here to protect me."

If she knew Troy better, she would have sworn he glanced at her when she said it, like he got a funny feeling in his stomach as he heard the way she said it, but she barely knew the guy. Maybe if he would have played twenty questions with her, she would have gotten a fuzzy feeling in her stomach by the way he seemed to react, but they hadn't played and she didn't notice. And there was no fuzzy feeling in her stomach.

Taylor's eyes squinted at her after she heard her answer and then she looked at Troy.

"You're part of the secret service?" She whispered to him.

Troy shrugged.

"You can like… get yourself killed."

"Only if I'm not careful." He smiled, nudging her to calm down and not to worry like she was programmed to do. Ever since they met in elementary school she was the one to worry about him and his friends, making sure they ate their lunch before playing on the playground. It was always her role… and recently she was the only one there to play it.

"So is this the school?" Gabriella asked once they stepped in, realizing that the two were too busy secretly communicating with each other to realize that they were now in the beautifully smart school.

"This is it." Taylor smiled, releasing her arms from theirs so that they could follow her as she talked.

***

Gabriella and Troy had had a fun day at Yale, although Troy would never admit it. Taylor had been nice, clicking with Gabriella when they started their own conversations and they both had laughed together when at least three girls tried flirting with Troy obviously. But the best part of the day was when they went into one of the empty classrooms, an English one with inspirational quotes painted on the walls, where Gabriella asked if they needed a pass to be in there. Taylor replied happily with a,

"Girl! You are my pass!"

And Troy laughed with both of them at that, but now, Troy and Gabriella were back in the plane, going back home after they promised to come back for dinner some time so that Troy and Taylor could catch up. Also, when Taylor asked secretly about Chad, her ex-boyfriend, Gabriella pretended not to hear, occupying herself with a brochure that she plucked from a bulletin board so that Troy wouldn't realize that he was caught… that he knew Chad Danforth… his favorite Lakers' player.

It was night time already and Troy and Gabriella were the only tired individuals on the plane. The pilot and the rest of the staff were still energetically smiling; ready to wait on the two, but Gabriella wasn't up for giving out order, which was why she had climbed all the way to the front of the plane to retrieve a blanket so that when she laid on the couch in the back, she would have something to cover up with.

The lights around the plane were dim as Gabriella walked back towards her couch and she slowed when she noticed Troy sleeping in the seat he had been sitting in on the way there and he was leaning against the window as he breathed evenly.

She looked down at the only blanket left on the plane that was tucked between her arms and sighed, releasing the blanket from between her arm and her body and carefully put it over Troy with a soft smile, leaving him to sleep as she went back to the couch, lying on it as she tried to stay warm just by wrapping her arms around herself.

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	6. Interview

**Thanks for all of the reviews, everyone! Enjoy!**

* * *

Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter six

Interview

Gabriella and Troy had gotten little sleep on the plane, but Gabriella would think otherwise. _She_ got no sleep because Troy was snoring the entire time while he slept peacefully and when she accused him after of his sleeping habits he denied that he was a snorer and told her that she should wear earplugs if she's such a light sleeper. But other than that, they had said nothing else to each other.

Now, they were sitting in the kitchen, Gabriella drinking down her coffee as she waited for her omelet. Troy sat in front of her, yawning, as he looked everywhere but at her and she seemed to notice, peeking up from her coffee cup to see him cleaning off the top of his watch with his sleeve.

"So are you sure you're not hungry?" Gabriella asked him for the second time, tired of only hearing the sizzling of the buttery pans behind her. She was used to talking to someone, the chefs at least, but now she was hearing no other human commentary.

"I'm sure." He replied quickly, rolling his eyes at her question.

"Can you at least try to be friendly?" She replied taking another sip of her coffee as a plate of food was set in front of her. She thanked the chef quietly, looking at him still.

"Can you just eat your food?" He retorted, scratching his forehead as she stabbed a strawberry in response, eyeing him annoyingly as she bit into it.

"Did you go to college?" She asked after a moment, already halfway done with her breakfast.

Troy sighed, rubbing his tired eyes with his hands as he shook his head, looking back up at her to see that she was waiting for an answer. To save himself from hearing her whine, he decided to answer this question.

"Yes." He replied, seeing her raise her eyebrows in surprise, wondering what made him change his mind about not talking to her.

"Was it fun?" She asked him, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I wouldn't exactly call it fun, but it was a part of life." Troy answered, looking up into her eyes. She glanced away quickly when he did, noticing the coolness of them.

"See, that's what I hate. It's a part of _life_. So does that mean I don't have a life?" She ranted to him, wondering honestly about this new confusion of hers. She wanted so badly just to go to college. Presidents' daughters and sons before her went to college and were just fine, but something made her dad want to keep her close and watched.

"I'm sure your online courses are going according to plan." Troy replied. "Tons of normal people do that too."

"Yeah, whatever." Gabriella rolled her eyes, shrugging at his response to her questioning. "So… there's a Lakers game on tonight."

Troy furrowed his brow as he looked at her, wondering where she was going with this current subject change.

"Too bad I'll miss it."

"You don't have to." Gabriella told him with a happy nod, pushing her plate away from her, done with her meal. "When there's a Friday game I always take the security members to the theater and we watch it there. It's kind of like my gift to the guys…you know… for protecting my family."

"Oh." Troy nodded, not sure if she was inviting him or just explaining.

"Since I'm going, you kind of have to go…" She added.

"That's my job." Troy replied with a sigh, standing up slowly from his seat because he knew that she would be heading somewhere else soon.

"You don't sound very enthused." She commented, standing up as he did, walking with him to the hallway.

"Look at that, you figured something out about me without asking a question." Troy said in a teasing manner, but his cold expression and no change in the upside down shape of his lips gave off the impression that he was serious and Gabriella didn't reply, figuring that he really was.

***

Gabriella was bouncing around her room, dancing to the music that was blaring from the speakers on either side of her desk. She was applying her lip gloss, but laughed as it smeared slightly with her energetic warm up before the Lakers game. As she bounced to shut her closet doors, she stopped by her body length mirror and made sure her Lakers t-shirt wasn't riding up or wrinkled. Her jeans were tight and her white socks made her laugh as she wiggled her toes, seeing them moving through the thin fabric of her sock as she looked in the mirror.

Tossing her lip gloss on her desk when she heard a knock on her door, she jogged over to it, opening it quickly, expecting to see her dad there to say he wished he could come, but he was too busy, and although she expected that, she didn't expect Troy there, knocking on her door. Sure, he was standing there all day and was there every time she opened it, but he never bugged her.

"Yes?" She asked him, smirking as he sighed.

"It's seven o'clock." He told her, as if she had somehow missed the time in her moment of singing and dancing in her room.

"When does the game start?" Gabriella asked, shouting as she trailed back into her room, pressing the power button on her radio, taken back slightly by the quietness of everything around her now that there was no loud music.

"Seven o'clock." Troy repeated in the same tone he used earlier.

"Troy!" Gabriella exclaimed, running towards the door and out the hallway. "Why didn't you get me sooner?" She asked, clearly annoyed.

"You seemed pretty occupied with singing to 'My Life Would Suck Without You' by Kelly Clarkson." He explained, seeing the surprise in her eyes at the fact that he actually knew a normal song _and _that he heard her.

"My bedroom door is soundproof." Gabriella said to him, stopping her speed walking to the basement.

"I think it's soundproof when you're having a calm conversation… But when you're screaming, attracting the neighborhood dogs, you're heard." He replied, sticking his hands in his pockets as they descended down the stairs, walking down a carpeted hallway towards the theater room.

"Oh, please! I was not screaming! I was simply rocking out to a good song."

"Rocking out, dying. I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference." Troy replied, bumping into her when she stopped quickly.

"Take that back!" She said suddenly, poking him in the chest, feeling that it was rock hard underneath her tiny finger.

"Fine. I would have been able to tell the different." He replied in a monotone, glaring slightly into her eyes.

She swallowed shaking her head at him.

"That's not what I meant." Gabriella said to him, wanting him to admit that she didn't sound that bad.

"We're missing the game." He replied, pushing open the door to the theater, holding it open for her and once they stepped in they were greeted by the loud sound of the surround sound.

"Where have you two been?" Charles asked when they walked in. The only two seats left were next to him and Gabriella smiled as she plopped down next to him, giving him a giddy side hug.

"Troy was complementing my singing." She smiled, patting Troy quickly on the arm as he sat down next to her. "Right?"

"Yeah, sure." He rolled his eyes, knowing that she wasn't happy with his insults towards her earlier and wanted an apology. Charles chuckled next to her, turning back to the game.

The game was intense as it always was on Friday nights with all of the security members watching as they sat at the edge of their seats and Gabriella was currently the only one standing up, cheering and hollering as the Lakers finally started to catch up. Troy sighed at her excitement and exchanged a look with Charles who was laughing at her.

"Miss Montez, we can't see!" A few members behind her called with laughs.

Gabriella turned to them, smiling as she squatted down slightly.

"What did I say you're not allowed to do on Friday night games?" She asked them, raising her eyebrows as they all smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry, Gabriella." They all chimed in together, glad to see her sit back down in her spot so that they'd be able to see the game.

Gabriella squinted her eyes, peeking through her long eyelashes as the men around her cheered, all except Troy though who had been in his seat calmly the entire time. And as she held her breath, she grabbed onto the armrests of her chair, barely noticing that although she meant to grab the arm rest on her right side she was currently clenching Troy's arm tightly in her hand, watching as the ball flew through the air and through the basket.

"Woooooooooh!!!" She hollered as everyone else did, cheering that the Lakers had won the game and as she gave Charles a victor hug, she noticed that Troy was watching the screen intently still, keeping his eyes on Chad Danforth; the guy who was engulfed in the middle of his team.

"Alright men." Brian Wallace said from the back of the theater. "It's time to get back to work."

"No one's going to stay to watch interviews with me?" Gabriella asked the guys leaving the room.

The men groaned, knowing that they had to go to work and that they never actually watched the interviews. Gabriella always did though and she stayed up late into the night watching replays because she got a good feeling out of staying up with the players who had just worked hard to win. Charles scouted his way out of the row that Gabriella and Troy were still sitting in and he smiled as he looked behind him, seeing that they were talking.

"So, are we staying?" Troy asked her as he folded his hands over his stomach.

"Yeah. I think I'm the only one in the country who stays up to watch the interviews." She laughed, leaning her head against her hand that was propped up on the armrest.

"I wouldn't say that." Troy replied, leaning comfortably into the cushiony lazy boy.

"Why? Do you know someone who stays up all night just to watch weird commercials and five minute interviews?" She asked with a soft smile. "Because if you do, I might just cry because there's someone out there for even me."

Troy tilted his head to look over at her and he hid his smirk as he pretended to yawn. She looked back at him, wondering if he was going to answer her or just continue to stare at her.

"I do." He replied when she nudged him.

"You do." She repeated, looking away from him and turning her attention to the back of the seat in front of her.

"Yup." Troy said casually, looking up at the screen that was currently advertising some kind of alcoholic product.

"This is awkward." Gabriella said quietly, hearing him chuckle.

"Only if you make it awkward." Troy answered, glad for the interruption of the interviews that were now on. The key players sat at a long table while cameras flashed and questions were shouted out to them.

Gabriella cleared her throat, suddenly wanting to go back to her room because she basically just admitted that the person who stayed up and watched the interviews would be perfect for her. She never thought Troy would be that guy. As Chad talked about his strategy, smiling thankfully at everyone, Gabriella looked over at Troy who had a soft smile on his face.

"Do you miss him?" She asked him slowly.

"Yeah." Troy's eyebrows scrunched in confusion and then he shook his head quickly, sitting up slightly from his relaxed position. "No. What? Huh?" He said quickly, causing Gabriella to giggle softly.

"Chad." Gabriella said with a raise of her eyebrows, glancing over at the screen. "Do you miss him?"

"No." Troy said almost in disbelief. "How? I mean, how would I miss him, I don't know him."

Gabriella nodded, leaning back in her chair, knowing that Troy was obviously not in on the secret that Gabriella knew all about his. She sat there, waiting to see if he would say something about it and after a while he finally did.

"What just happened here?" He asked her in a regular tone, not anything professional or on guard. "Where did that question come from?"

"I know things about you that wouldn't exactly be answered in twenty questions." She gave him somewhat of a sad smile, and he shook his head, not wanting to see someone give him a pity look like she had again.

"How? Did your dad give you a lesson all about me or something?" Troy asked and Gabriella's eyebrows creased slowly, sensing that he was mad.

"No." Gabriella shook her head. "I just found out. It's no ones fault."

Troy put his face in his hands, leaning his elbows against his knees as he shook his head, rubbing his eyes slowly. Gabriella breathed softly, not sure what to do. Pat him on the back? Tell him not to be mad, that everything would be okay? But before she could do anything he was looking back at her.

"So Sharpay told you?"

Gabriella opened her mouth to reply, but said nothing, not wanting to rat Sharpay out.

"She's the only one who could have. Taylor knows not to say anything." Troy explained to her, shaking his head again angrily as he thought about his friend telling this poor girl every bad thing that has ever happened to him.

Gabriella nodded when he looked into her eyes, wanting a straight answer.

"This is what I don't get." Troy said suddenly turning towards her so that they were face to face, his arm leaning against the back of his chair as she looked on in surprise. He was actually talking freely to her. "That was my business and someone still thought they had the right to tell someone who didn't even know me about it."

"Well," Gabriella started unsurely, seeing that he was honestly trying to fathom why people talked about other people. "If it makes you feel any better, at least your business isn't broadcasted in the newspaper… or on the news like mine is."

Troy sighed, running a hand over his face again, tired.

"That must be tough."

"Well, it's not like it's ever about anything important. I _am_ locked up in my room like Sleeping Beauty being guarded by dragons, so it's not like anyone sees me dancing around and singing. I'm not some kind of YouTube sensation." Gabriella answered, trying to lighten the mood as she made weird references. Troy smiled softly, causing her to as well.

"So am I one of the dragons keeping you in your room?" He laughed quietly, glad for the subject change, hoping it wouldn't go back to his past.

"Nah, it's mainly my dad. You're just an obstacle that Prince Charming is going to have to pass in order to save me from a dreary death." She smirked, rolling her eyes at herself.

"I take it you're one of those girls that believe in fairytales and happily ever afters." Troy said, watching as she ran a hand through her hair as she leaned against her chair sideways so that she was still facing him.

"It's the only thing that gets me though my day." Gabriella admitted. "But it doesn't sound like you're much of a believer."

Troy shrugged, nodding.

"I'm not." He told her. "Too much has happened."

Gabriella nodded, understanding somewhat that he had reasons to not believe in good things happening to him. She glanced over at the TV for a second, seeing that interviews were still going on, but realized that they were creating somewhat of an interview of their own.

"So, what made you become a part of the secret service?" Gabriella asked him. "You know, it doesn't seem like you like it."

Troy smiled, giving her a look that indicated that he didn't think it was as bad as she thought he did.

"I did it on a bet." He admitted to her, ready for any kind of swat she most likely would give him, but she stayed on her side of the armrest.

"You dedicated all of this time being here because of a bet?" Gabriella asked in surprise, wondering why guys took bets so seriously. "Why?"

"Zeke told me I had to get on with my life somehow. He knew I'd do something if he made it into some kind of challenge." Troy explained to her.

"Oh, Zeke. Sharpay's future husband?" She nodded, remembering hearing of him.

"Is that was she told you?" Troy asked with a laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. "I wouldn't go that far."

"Why not?" Gabriella asked in disappointment. Sharpay had talked about Zeke with her more than a few times and she really thought they were a couple that would actually make it.

"I mean, yeah, they _love_ each other." Troy shrugged, not sure where he was going with this. "I just can't see it working with them being apart all of the time because of their jobs."

"Sometimes that can work." Gabriella nodded.

"Maybe." Troy nodded back.

"So, does Chad like Taylor still?" She asked him after a moment of glancing up at the screen seeing a reply of one of Chad's shinning moments. "I heard Taylor asked about him at Yale. I assumed they were together at one point."

"It's complicated. They're far away from each other." He shrugged, and then stopped answering the question. "Should I be talking to you about other people, or is that hypocritical of me since I was so mad about Sharpay talking to you." Troy quizzed her, wondering this too.

"Well, I think it's okay because Taylor said she liked me so it's not like you're talking to someone that she doesn't like. But when Sharpay talked to me, it was different because you don't like me." Gabriella answered.

Troy nodded, glancing at the screen and then back at Gabriella somewhat awkwardly.

"It's not that I don't like you." Troy said, surprising Gabriella again. "I do… I just can't mix my job with my personal life."

"Personal life?" Gabriella questioned. "What do you mean?"

Troy blushed lightly, hoping that she would have gotten that without him having to explain it to her.

"When you broke up with Drew…" Troy started, hesitating when Gabriella seemed to flinch at the mentioning of his name while she looked down at her lap sadly. "Your dad brought me in for a talk."

"Oh God." Gabriella groaned with a sigh. "What did he say?"

"Well he started explaining to me that unlike you and Charles, we can't be all buddy-buddy." Troy explained. "He specifically emphasized that I couldn't fall in love with you."

"Fall in love with me?" Gabriella exclaimed loudly, quieting down when her voice echoed in the room. "What? Huh?" It was Troy's turn to laugh as she was caught off guard. "That can't technically happen unless you are attracted to me and we all know that it takes a crazy person to be attracted to me because I'm the President's daughter and I have guards following me and that would be impossible. Plus, I talk too much when I'm nervous and my sense of style is just terrible. And, while I may like the Lakers I have that weird habit of staying up really late just to watch interviews and commercials." Gabriella took a deep breath, panicking. "But… so do you."

"Whoa. I'm sorry I even started this conversation." Troy said with a chuckle. "You have that whole deer-caught-in-the-headlights look going on."

"No. I'm sorry. I just…never thought of that." She nodded. "What time is it?"

She watched as he pulled back his suit sleeve, revealing his silver watch that was snug against his wrist. He looked back at her when he saw the time.

"Two."

Gabriella's eyes widened in surprise, shocked by the fact that they had stayed down there so long talking to each other. She slowly got up, followed by Troy.

"I think it's time to head back."

"Yeah." He nodded.

The two of them walked quietly back to Gabriella's room, not talking since they had already been out of character enough that day. Troy stood by her door, smiling softly at her as she opened her bedroom door.

"Goodnight, Miss Montez." He said quietly.

She stepped back out slightly, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Sorry." He mumbled. "Goodnight… Gabriella."

Gabriella smiled softly, whispering goodnight to him in reply and as she closed the door behind her, she put a hand over her mouth, tiptoeing over to her bed so she could grab a pillow from her bed, pulling it over her face so that she could squeal as she fell against her bed, kicking her feet in the air excitedly.

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**unknownbyhim22**


	7. IT'S UR BDAY

**Thanks for all of the reviews, everyone! I apprieciate it! Happy Easter! **

* * *

Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter seven

IT'S UR B-DAY

Troy was walking to his spot by Gabriella's door a few days later, his eyes tired because he had gotten little sleep the night before. He was up all night talking to his family and friends and although he was feeling the consequences of his actions now, he didn't regret talking to them all.

After about a half hour, the door opened like it did on any regular morning at ten o'clock, but he jumped almost out of his skin when a huge rainfall of confetti greeted him, falling around him on his shoulders and head.

"What the—"

Gabriella was standing happily in the hallway, her smile wide and energetic as she tossed the confetti popper into her room quickly. She was wearing a red t-shirt that had IT'S UR B-DAY on the front of it, the letters bold and colorful. Gabriella pulled the paper crown that she was hiding behind her back into view. She plopped it on his head and his eyes widened at the idea of having to walk around in this corny found-at-Burger-King crown.

"I knew I shouldn't have worked today." Troy said to himself, sighing as she linked her arm with his, pulling him with her as she squealed in excitement.

"I just love birthdays!" She told him, dragging him along with her.

"Really? I never would have guessed." Troy said sarcastically, frowning obviously as she stopped when she saw her dad and Charles walking their way.

At first, Troy noticed that they were talking seriously with each other, but when they saw him, his frown growing as Gabriella continued to get more and more excited, their serious expressions changed into huge smiles as they laughed together. They stopped when they neared them and Charles laughed loudly as the President tried not to join him.

"I'm sorry, Troy; I should have warned you that this happens on everyone's birthday." Charles laughed, seeing the paper crown. "Most of us know to take the day off, but when I read the memo it was too late to tell you to not come into work today."

"You sent out a memo?" Troy asked in disbelief, looking over at the squirming-with-joy girl next to him.

"You bet I did!" She exclaimed, squealing. "But there's no time to talk! We have tons of stops to make."

"What do you mean?" Troy asked her, looking over at the President for help.

"Have fun!" President Montez smiled, laughing when Troy grimaced as Gabriella pulled him quickly with her.

Troy was literally trying to make himself extra heavy as Gabriella tried pulling him down the hallway. He was walking in the opposite direction at certain points in their birthday trip, but Gabriella always found a way to catch him and continue on with his birthday walk.

"How does it feel to be twenty four? I can't wait to turn twenty four, if you want to know the truth." Gabriella nodded.

"I don't." Troy said to her, causing her only to try harder to make him happy on this very happy day.

"I have your first surprise in the kitchen." Gabriella told him.

"Oh, and here I thought the confetti was the surprise." Troy said sarcastically, causing Gabriella to laugh.

"That was just the beginning." She told him, pulling him into the kitchen to reveal the kitchen staff waiting for him with a single cupcake with a candle on it. When they entered, the kitchen staff pulled yet another confetti popper, causing confetti to fly towards Troy and Gabriella and as the sound of the pathetic paper horns they were blowing into filled the air, Gabriella laughed, clapping her hands together excitedly.

"Alright, you have to make a wish _and_ eat the cupcake." Gabriella smiled taking the cupcake from Warren, the top chef, and then she lit it with a lighter, holding it towards Troy. "Close your eyes." She said.

"I don't need to close my eyes to make a wish." Troy said with a sigh, seeing the demanding eyebrow raise she gave him.

He closed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest in protest and as he peeked though his left eye, he noticed that Gabriella's eyes were closed too, her soft eye shadow sparkling in the light coming in from outside. He looked over at the kitchen's staff who was now all laughing quietly at him.

"Troy! Make a wish!" Gabriella said quickly, her eyes shooting open as she sensed he wasn't follow birthday tradition.

Troy sighed against the flame, causing it to flicker out slowly and Gabriella handed him the cupcake, taking the candle out first and licking the frosting off of it. She skipped towards the door, gesturing for Troy to follow her and he rolled his eyes, going, with his cupcake back into the hallway.

"So, what'd you wish for?" Gabriella asked him with a smile. "Wait! You know, don't tell me. I want it to come true for you."

"So do I, so do I." Troy groaned, really hoping his wish could come true.

"It must have been good then if you really want it to come true." She nodded and he looked over at her as if she was truly going crazy. "Just tell me, what'd you wish for?" Her excitement got the best of her and even though you weren't supposed to share your wish on your birthday, she wanted to know.

"I wished for this day to be over with as soon as possible." Troy told her.  
"Well, that's a waste of a wish and since you told me, it's not coming true." She smiled like she was glad the day wasn't coming to an end anytime soon and she smirked, knowing that when he saw his last surprise, he wouldn't want the day to end at all either.

Troy sighed for the tenth time that morning when Gabriella stopped by a passing employee exclaiming that it was in fact Troy's birthday.

"Aren't you going to eat your cupcake?" Gabriella asked him.

"No." Troy replied in annoyance.

"Can I have it then?"

"Trust me; you don't need anymore sugar today. It's like you snuck into the kitchen before I came and sampled all of the sugary cereal in the world." He said to her.

"Well, grouchy, I did sneak into the kitchen before you came, but that was to make sure that the cupcake was all set for your arrival." Gabriella replied. "And you're not even happy to receive it."

"I'm sorry, but this is just ridiculous! Who does this?" He asked her, seriously not wanting to see anything else she had planned for him.

"I do this!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "And most people are happy when I go out of my way to make their day special!"

"Why?" Troy asked somewhat loudly. "Why are you doing this?" He had a weird hate for birthdays and ever since his mom died, the person who gave him _life_, he hated celebrating his.

"Because I hate everything being about me!" She shouted this at him and he was surprised as she tried to get back to her happy self. She cleared her throat, looking at him seriously. "I want the employees to think of themselves occasionally and forget about taking care of me. So gosh, darn, Troy Bolton, if I want to do this, I'm doing it."

Troy swallowed harshly, blinking as Gabriella stood fuming in front of him. Her happy expression was changed into a sweaty and pissed one. She cleared her throat again, fluffing her hair as she began her walk again.

"Thank God the next stop has a piñata because otherwise I'd be a mess for the rest of the day." She mumbled to him, marching away as he peeled the cupcake wrapper down, biting into the sugary top. He'd need it if he was to spend the rest of the day doing this.

***

Troy's feet hurt, seriously. He and Gabriella had so far, visited the kitchen for his cupcake, played pin the tail on the donkey, mashed a piñata into pieces until tiny bars of candy fell to the ground in the backyard, and participated in an employee parade that just so happened to have Troy as the main attraction. He was pissed, tired, hot, and quite frankly; emotional.

The entire time memories of past birthdays had come and gone. He thought of the time he first played pin the tail on the donkey, where he accidentally pinned it in Chad's hair and of the time the cake bakers at 'The Bakers and the Caterers' had spelt his name wrong. He had suddenly gone from a ten year old boy to a ten year old girl in a matter of seconds. His mom though fixed the cake quickly, but that didn't prevent his friends to tease him, calling him Tory for the rest of the time.

And on each and every birthday he had, he found a way to somehow help his mom out, whether it was cleaning up the dishes or taking out the trash once everyone went home. Because that's what should happen. He believed that the Hallmark Stores had it all wrong. Mom's should be celebrated on their kids birthday because they're the ones who did all of the work… and on Mother's Day kids should be celebrated… because a woman wouldn't be a mom without them.

But all of that was beside the point. Even though Troy couldn't stop thinking about his mom, Gabriella still pulled him to different birthday stations, exclaiming how excited she was each time someone told him Happy Birthday. And now, they were walking in the basement, down the hallways towards the basketball court.

"You're going to love this. I'm so excited." Gabriella said to him. He had taken his crown off hours ago and she didn't mind because he was the first to actually wear it for more than five minutes.

"I've seen the basketball court a million times." Troy said with a sigh.

"Not like this." She smiled. "Close your eyes."

"I don't need to close my eyes." Troy said to her, seeing that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. She put her hand over his eyes, leading him forward as she opened the gym doors, stepping in slowly.

"Are you ready?" Gabriella asked him excitedly.

"I guess."

Gabriella slowly moved her hand away from face, seeing that his eyes were shut still and she looked confused as she tapped him quickly. He stayed like that, closing his eyes tighter.

"What are you doing?" She whispered.

"I'm afraid that I'm going to be faced with a petting farm when I open my eyes." He explained to her, feeling her pinch his left eyelid, pulling it up and then dropping it.

"Stop being a baby, Troy!" Gabriella laughed.

"Trust me, that's not an option. I've been playing games for children three and under all day!" Troy exclaimed, feeling her shove him.

"Open your eyes!"

Troy slowly and cautiously opened his eyes, sensing Gabriella smiling wide next to him as they looked out at the basketball courts.

"Wow." Troy said, seeing the decorated table and walls of the gym. "You got me a table and punch bowl. I've always dreamt of receiving a gift like that." His words were dripping with sarcasm and she rolled her eyes.

And then she put her thumb and pointer finger in her mouth, causing a whistle to echo in the large room and for Troy to look at her oddly, but his glance at her lasted only seconds because as giggles erupted from in front of him, his eyes widened.

"SURPRISE!" Troy's mouth dropped open, seeing four familiar faces pop up from behind the table that was in the center of the room and as Gabriella squealed next to him, he felt happy tears in his eyes.

"Hey bro! You look like you've been tortured!" Chad said to him from across the room, laughing as Troy stood still next to the President's daughter.

"I have been!" Troy laughed, looking at all of his closest friends. Taylor, Sharpay, Zeke, and Chad all smiling at him, clearly excited to be in on the surprise. He quickly realized that he hadn't moved since he saw them and jogged over to Zeke and Chad, hugging them both tightly as they all laughed, saying boyish things to each other as the girls hugged each other next to them, squealing and teary eyed.

"Do they really love birthdays this much?" Zeke asked as the guys glanced at the girls, still staying in their huddle.

"Dude, I don't know, but I've never seen Sharpay and Taylor so emotional." Chad said in reply.

"They're probably just excited that we're all here together. It's nice." Troy nodded, smiling hugely. "How did this happen?" He asked.

"Dude, man, I got pulled out of practice right before some serious ass whipping because the White House was on the phone! Can you imagine how scared I was? I thought I forgot to pay my taxes or something." Chad explained.

"Yeah, I was just about to get on a plane to Japan for a food convention when I got the phone call. I didn't even know the President had a daughter until she called me... I haven't had time to watch the news." Zeke nodded, looking over at Gabriella who was smiling as she talked to his girlfriend.

"So, let me get this straight, Gabriella planned all of this. Everything?" Troy asked them.  
"Yeah. She said she was really into birthdays… which is obvious by what she is wearing." Chad responded.

"I know. Imagine my surprise when I was greeted with that." Troy chuckled, shaking his head, now suddenly forgetting about how stressed he felt all day, forgiving Gabriella for putting him through all of her crazy rituals.

"Alright boys, stop talking about us and get over here!" Sharpay smiled, waving them over, and Troy hugged her and Taylor, thanking them for coming.

"I think," Gabriella started, smiling as everyone watched as she picked up a lighter. "We should sing Troy happy birthday and have him make his official birthday wish."

"I thought I already made my wish." Troy chuckled as she began lighting the candles that were on the large cake next to the punchbowl. All twenty four of them.

"I know, but I made you tell me so that it wouldn't count." Gabriella answered. "Now you can make a more… appropriate one."

"Did you make a dirty wish, Troy?" Zeke asked as he and Chad laughed, swatting Troy playfully.

"Ah-ha very funny, guys." Troy laughed, watching as the glow from the candles cast an orange shadow over Gabriella's face as she finished up with her fiery lighting.

"Alright, are you thinking of a good wish?" Gabriella asked with a smile as she turned the cake towards him, whipping out a disposable camera, causing everyone to laugh. "Don't laugh at me. You'll thank me later." She told the group.

"Haaaaappppyyy." Gabriella laughed as Sharpay slowly started the song, waiting for everyone else to join in with her and as the group sang to Troy, all looking at him with smiles, Gabriella couldn't help but keep her eyes on him also, seeing how happy he was.

She was noticing too that as he looked at his friends and back at the cake, he seemed to be a completely different person than she was used to seeing. And as she snapped down on the button that would capture this moment she knew that he really was a different person. He was who he was when he didn't have to call her Miss Montez or protect her from a photographer. He was who he likely wanted to be for another twenty four years and then more.

Gabriella quickly pressed down on the camera's button again as Troy made a wish. As he did, she found herself also closing her eyes, hoping that maybe he'd be this guy full time.

"Yay!" Taylor clapped her hands as Sharpay exclaimed loudly in excitement. The guys ruffled Troy's hair while Gabriella took the candles off of the cake; ready to start cutting pieces for everyone.

She had the whole birthday routine down and she could slice this cake in under twenty seconds, but when she felt a hand over her hand that was holding the knife, she looked up, smiling softly.

"Let me help you." Troy smiled. "It's the least I can do." So maybe he couldn't help his mom set the table for his guests or hang the piñata from the tree in his backyard today, but he could help the girl who cared enough about everyone that worked for her to throw the perfect birthday party.

***

The group of friends, even Gabriella was now being considered one of the gang, had pushed the table full of birthday food to the back of the gym and as the girls put their hair in ponytails (although Sharpay protests against it), the guys huddled on the far end of the gym, Troy rolling up the sleeves to his white button-up shirt, already having taken off his black jacket.

They were about to play a much needed, much smack-talk filled game of basketball: boys against girls and everyone was excited except for Gabriella. Although she watched basketball more than the average girl, which was mainly due to being stuck in her room, she never mastered the skill of playing the actual game. She had a feeling that Sharpay and Taylor weren't very good either because they were mumbling complaints about how they were going to lose, but she didn't want to look like an incompetent female.

"Alright, ladies, are you ready to lose?" Chad asked, cracking his knuckles as he sauntered on over to the three young woman.

"Ch-ad." Sharpay said with a bored expression. "We already know we're going to lose, so you don't have to ask."

"Yeah, we're going up against a professional basketball player and the two next best things." Taylor sighed, looking slowly at Troy and then at Zeke.

"Come on, girls, it'll be fun." Zeke smiled, wanting them to at least try to beat them, even though he too knew that they wouldn't.

"Whatever you say, Honey." Sharpay said, smiling as she strolled on over to him wrapping her arms around his neck and as Zeke slowly became weak in the knees, inhaling her sugary scent, she whacked the ball out from under his arm, smacking it towards Taylor who giggled as she ran in the opposite direction, traveling obviously as Troy and Chad ran after her, laughing at the girls' attempt at tricking them.

Gabriella raised her eyebrows, surprised that they were up 1-0 as the girls ran back towards her, following the guys quickly as Chad raced to the other side of the court. She didn't know what to do, but as Sharpay screeched, shoving the guys out of Taylor's way as she tossed it to her, Gabriella's eyes widened, running quickly from the charging guys who were all looking to get the ball away from _her_.

She missed, obviously, but the guys were too busy getting the ball back to make fun of her and the girls patted her on the back, telling her it was a nice try. After all, it wasn't everyday you played basketball with the likes of these guys.

After a while, the girls had officially given up. Now they were standing on the sidelines watching as the guys played a game of their own after the girls insisted that playing boys against girls was ridiculous and not close to being fun. The guys had happily shrugged, grinning at their victory and were fine with just playing with each other as the girls gossiped while they nibbled on vegetables and dip.

"This was so nice of you, Gabriella." Taylor nodded, dipping a carrot into the creamy dip on the table.

"Ah, it was nothing, really." Gabriella shrugged, looking out at the competitive guys yelling out playfully mean comments to each other.

"Yeah, but this is the happiest I think either of us have seen Troy in a really long time and it's all thanks to you." Sharpay told her, wanting Gabriella to know just how great of a thing she did for Troy.

"I'm just glad that everyone is happy." Gabriella smiled modestly, seeing the way Taylor and Sharpay exchanged a secretive look as if they didn't believe Gabriella was only doing this to see people happy.

"So… have you and Troy gotten to know each other more?" Sharpay asked with another glance to Taylor.

"Not really." Gabriella shrugged, wondering if they were looking for a certain answer from her. "He still has his guard up. I can't really blame him though."

"Mmh, what do you mean?" Taylor asked.

"I'm the President's daughter." Gabriella stated with a sigh. "The only people willing to get close to me are the people who were close to me before I was the President's daughter and if they didn't know me before, they're most likely out to hurt me. Troy's my body guard. He's none of the above." Gabriella explained.

"So, what category do we fall under?" Sharpay asked her.

Gabriella smiled softly, looking at the two girls across from her and they smiled back, giving her hopeful looks.

"I guess I have to make a new category for new friends." Gabriella answered, laughing softly at the excited look in their eyes.

"To new friends!" Taylor cheered, holding up a cucumber with dip on it as if it was a cup of champagne and they were making an important toast.

"To new friends." Sharpay and Gabriella said together, joining Taylor in her fun attempt at a formal toast.

"I hope we're included in that category!" Chad said as he approached them, snatching the cucumber from Taylor's hand, capturing it in his mouth quickly as Taylor swatted at him for eating out of her hand.

Sharpay smiled as she linked her arm with Zeke's, getting him a vegetable with dip and as she looked over at Taylor with a knowing nod, she answered.

"Of course! You all are." She said, poking Troy in the arm with a giggle, subtly telling him that he was also a part of this new found friendship.

Gabriella glanced at Troy who was smiling playfully over at an excited Sharpay. She cleared her throat, biting into the cucumber that was still in her hand. Apparently according to the group; they were friends now.

***

Gabriella's arms swayed at her sides as she and Troy walked back to her room later that night and they glanced at each other occasionally only to look away when they made eye contact. Her birthday shirt was wrinkled and stretched from her day's activities and her feet hurt from their frequent movement around the White House that day.

A sigh from Troy brought Gabriella out of her thoughts soon later as they approached her door and she smiled when he raised his eyebrows at her casually. The house was silent and the bright lights of the hallway irritated the both of them as they stopped by Gabriella's bedroom door.

"So, I hope all of your birthday wishes come true." Gabriella said as she stood in the doorway of her room, her hand on the doorknob while she looked at Troy.

"Yeah." Troy nodded, smiling softly. "I'm actually regretting making my first wish."

Gabriella smirked, laughing softly as she nodded.

"The day would have come to an end eventually." She replied. "I'm just glad you enjoyed yourself today." She rolled her eyes inwardly, suddenly feeling as if she was talking in a formal manner about a casual event.

"Me too." Troy nodded. "Um, Goodnight, I guess."

"Goodnight." Gabriella said in a whisper, smiling tiredly at him as she took a step forward.

"Uh, Gabriella…" Troy said suddenly, causing Gabriella to stop immediately because he used her first name. She looked over at him, giving him a wondering look. "Thank you." He said finally, nodding slowly as he did. "For everything."

"You're welcome." Gabriella smiled again, swallowing with a nod as she stepped into her room. As she closed the door behind her she felt her heart beat increasing. Maybe it was because he seemed genuinely thankful for her efforts on his birthday, or because of the way he looked at her when he said her name, but either way, it had her grinning noticeably and wondering what the heck she was getting herself into.

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**unknownbyhim22**


	8. Teaching

**Hey Everyone! Thanks so much for all of the reviews and favoriting... I'm sorry I didn't post this chapter sooner, I've been caught up in writing my new story for FanFiction, so didn't think of this story right away this weekend. Enjoy!**

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter eight

Teaching

It was all part of the birthday tradition at the White House. Gabriella would eat cake and ice cream, steal a handful of candy from the piñata, and then she'd work out the next day as if her life depended on working off the calories she had consumed the day before. It wasn't like she was obsessed with being skinny or eating the right things, it just became routine and being fit wouldn't hurt her anyways. She tied her hair into a ponytail, plucking a purple ribbon from her desk that had fallen off a shopping bag after the first visit from Sharpay and she tied it around her ponytail, giving her gym attire a more girly look.

Opening her bedroom door, she smirked, seeing Troy in a pair of tennis shoes and a comfortable looking t-shirt and shorts. He sent her an unappreciative look and her smile only widened, guessing that he worked out on his own time, not in front of people and in a gym designed for the President.

"Nice outfit." Gabriella giggled, smoothing out her own shirt that was form fitting against her toned stomach.

"Touché." Troy said with a sigh, following her as she made her way to the gym, already have had a granola bar in her room for breakfast.

***

Gabriella was in the zone. She was ready. She was sweaty. She was currently being annoyed by Troy and a few other security members who thought it was funny to knock each other down as they boxed on the foam flooring in front of her as she ran on the treadmill, trying to pay attention to the movie that was playing on the TV.

Troy was currently laughing as Charles held the hanging punching bag still for him, but he couldn't hit it any longer as Ned and Henry, two members of the security, both African American men swung at each other humorously in the middle of the ring.

He didn't know why he was laughing so hard, but their sarcastic comments and easy going attitudes had him holding his stomach, feeling as if he had just done sets of crunches. When he breathed out calmly after the two men had called it quits he noticed Gabriella watching them with raised eyebrows, clearly not amused.

"Miss Montez!" Charles said before Troy could, walking away from behind the bunching bag while he took off his gloves. "You should join us. Maybe it'd do you some good to learn some self defense."

"I'll pass. Remember, I can take anyone down with my purse." She said with a nod, wiping her forehead clean of the sweat.

"You don't carry a purse." Troy said to her, causing her to silently glare at him for shooting down her excuse. "Come on, it'll be fun. Unless you're too scared."

Charles, Ned, and Henry all hollered behind him, laughing as Gabriella raised her eyebrows at him as he approached her. She turned down the speed of the treadmill, slowing to a walk as she shook her head.

"I'm not scared." Gabriella told him.

"Then you'll let me teach you self defense." He smiled, pressing the power button on the treadmill, stopping her walk. She jumped down, wobbling slightly as she stood next to him. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "My legs just feel like jello. No worries."

The sound of the snickering bystanders greeted Gabriella as she stepped onto the mat. She looked over at Ned and Henry impatiently as they laughed at her. Charles tossed her his gloves, all of them watching as she put them on.

"You know, I don't appreciate being bullied into this." Gabriella announced to the four men, glancing as a few more security members walked in on their break, hoping to get a quick workout in.

"Next time someone tries bullying you into something, you can use what I'm about to teach you to teach them a lesson, but because you pulled the purse excuse, you didn't know how to get out of this." Troy said with a smirk, looking at her playfully.

"You do know that I can just walk out of here and you'd have to follow me and let this go, right?" Gabriella replied, smirking back at him as Ned and Henry laughed at him, rather than at her.

"Yeah, but what's the fun in that?" Troy asked her, securing his own boxing gloves tightly as they started.

Gabriella definitely wasn't into learning self defense and the guys knew that as she whacked at the punching bag in boredom, talking in a monotone as she made sarcastic comments about being the President's daughter. They were becoming quickly annoyed at her lack of sportsmanship as they continued, and the security members that had walked in when they first started were now gathered around the mat, watching as Charles suggested they change it up a little bit.

"Why don't you put Gabriella in different situations, Troy, so she's not just staring at the punching bag." Charles suggested, crossing his arms over his chest as Gabriella gladly walked away from the bag.

"Yes, please." Gabriella said with a sigh.

"Teach her how to do a head lock!" Henry exclaimed excitedly. "It comes in handy."

"Alright, Henry, since it's your idea, why don't I demonstrate on you." Troy laughed, pulling Henry over after he shook his head no. "The first thing you do in this situation, obviously, is to pull your arm around his neck like this." Troy gently demonstrated this, telling Gabriella to make sure she holds her hand with her free one so the person can't get away. "Once they're like this they're basically useless because they can only move their body and they're head is stuck like this."

"Let me try, I'm sure I'll be needing this." Gabriella said sarcastically.

"Uh-huh, I'm no idiot." Henry said with a shake of his head. "You can practice with Troy."

Charles chuckled, along with the other members watching with him because they all knew that once Gabriella was annoyed or bored, she was stronger than she looked and none of them were willing to see just what she could do. Troy shrugged, walking over to Gabriella, bending down slightly so that she could practice what she saw on him.

"You know, I'm not really into this." Gabriella said before she casually put her arm around his neck as if she was just strolling around the park, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"We can tell." Charles laughed, seeing her harshly pull Troy into a head lock after his comment. Troy grunted, causing them all to chuckle with him.

Troy rolled his eyes at his coworkers as his arm rested behind him and as Gabriella loosened her grip just barely, but just as she tightened her grip again after another comment from Charles, Troy's eyebrows raised suspiciously as he saw the tiniest bump in about the same place as her belly button was. He was barely aware of the fact that his face was pressed up against her side. All he could comprehend at that moment was that Gabriella had a belly button ring and then as Gabriella became distracted, he wrapped his arm around her back, grabbing her legs and she screeched as her arms tightened around his neck, shocked that he had suddenly pulled her into this bridal style position.

"Ha! You can never loosen your arms!" Ned said to her, shaking his head at her inexperience with defending herself. "This will always happen."

"The person attacking me will suddenly pick me up as if he's carrying me on my wedding day?" Gabriella questioned, hearing the guys chuckling again, along with Troy as he set her down. "Alright, one more thing and I'm done."

"How about…" Charles started, grinning. "You punch Troy."

"Thanks Charles." Troy said sarcastically.

"I'm up for that." Gabriella smirked, taking the boxing gloves off of the floor that she had set down earlier and putting them back on, tightening them as she turned to a skeptical looking Troy. "Oh, come on, it's not like I'm actually going to hurt you."

"You'd be surprised." Troy said to her with a smirk, telling her to take her best shot after and Gabriella sighed, swinging at him, but she gasped when he caught her glove in his hand.

"You can't just punch me right on. If you curve the motion of your arm, then I'm less likely to see it coming and there will be more impact." Troy told her.

"Remind me again why I even agreed to do this." Gabriella asked him seriously.

"Because deep down inside you know you'll need to protect yourself and if you learn now, you won't be afraid to be alone."

"What makes you think I'm afraid to be alone?"

"Just punch me." Troy said, but he said it right as she was winding up and as her hand collided with the side of his face, he fell to the ground, everyone watching gasped, and Gabriella panicked.

"Oh. My. God!" Gabriella panicked, feeling her face becoming hot and her breathing quicken as she bent over him, seeing no movement. "I am so sorry! I didn't think I would hurt you! You were totally right about the curve thing! I'm so sorry!"

Just as she was finishing her last sorry and as the security members dispersed around the gym quickly, Troy's leg whipped her legs from under her, causing her to fall forward, her arm draping over his chest as she tried catching her balance.

She groaned as her hip started to hurt and as she opened her eyes from their tight close, she saw Troy looking at her. The laughing of the men around her grew quieter as they disappeared out of the gym.

"Rule number one: never underestimate your attacker." He said.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to demonstrate." Gabriella groaned, rolling over on her back, feeling his arm under her neck. "That really hurt."

"I'm just teaching you a lesson. Maybe if you would have been more interested I would have gone easy on you." He smiled, slowly taking his arm from underneath her head as he rolled over, his arms on either side of her as he started to get up.

Gabriella was holding her breath as Troy held himself up above her as if he was doing a push up and got stuck on the up part of the movement. He looked down into her eyes, seeing her looking up at him innocently and as he smirked, lowering himself down so that his face was close to her ear, he whispered softly to her.

"Nice belly button ring." And with that, the breath that Gabriella was holding in escaped, brushing up against his neck and she shoved him away from her, standing up quickly as he did while laughing.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him, clearly shocked that she was busted.

"I saw it through your shirt when you put me in a head lock." Troy told her, walking over to the treadmill she was using earlier to take the towel off of it, wiping his sweaty face clean.

When he turned around, he chuckled when he saw her looking down at her tight spandex work out shirt that she was wearing, cursing when she saw that in fact you could see the belly button ring hidden underneath it. She looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"Don't tell my dad." She pleaded.

"I won't." Troy told her, seeing her relieved expression follow after. "I'm just curious about how you managed to get it done."

"Well, Drew's not as innocent as he looks." She replied simply.

"What?" Troy asked with wide eyes, wondering what she meant exactly by that.

"He thought a belly button ring would look hot on me." She cringed at the thought of the memory now and she shook her head, regretting it. "His brother was always the rebellious one and he owned a tattoo and piercing shop and did it for me. I snuck out."

"How in the world did you sneak out?" Troy asked her, clearly grossed out that Drew had an influence on the piercing of her most likely tan belly button flesh.

"I walked out the door. It was easier than I thought." Gabriella nodded, surprisingly serious.

"Do you have any tattoos?" Troy asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.

"What? Are we playing twenty questions now?" She smirked as if she was hiding something. "You opted out of that, remember?"

"You have a tattoo, don't you?"

"No." She said, walking for the door. "And even if I did, you'd never find out."

Troy ran after her as she charged for the door, zipping out of the gym quickly as she laughed, starting this game of tag and as Troy ran after her he couldn't help but smile as the giggles followed her, revealing any hiding spot she thought would keep him from her.

***

"Do you want to go for a walk?" It was later in the evening and both Troy and Gabriella had changed into their usual clothing, but as Gabriella stood in the hallway in a yellow sun dress, her hair pulled back into a half ponytail, she wondered if she over did it. Troy was currently staring at her, as if he had never seen yellow look so good on someone and he swallowed, causing Gabriella to smirk.

"Troy?" She said again, snapping him out of his trance.

"Yup. Yeah." He said quickly, looking into her eyes quickly instead of looking at her high heels.

"Alright, let's go." Gabriella said with a laugh, wondering if going on a walk around her own house was weird, but after all, her house always seemed to have something interesting to look at.

Troy couldn't help but to glance at Gabriella occasionally, catching her looking over at him a few times too as they turned the corner, going towards the other side of the house, smiling at passing employees and visitors. As they were passing the open doors of the ballroom, Gabriella stopped suddenly, causing Troy to almost bump into her, making her laugh when he dodged her quickly.

"Look at the way the sun is hitting the floor." Gabriella said to him, looking into the empty ballroom, one that she had only seen filled with people once and that was when she was passing by, not invited to the party.

"Uh, yeah." Troy said unsurely, not seeing anything too interesting… in the ballroom. "It's shaped as the windows."

"Yeah." Gabriella laughed. "But look how it shimmers like it's falling there."

Troy raised his eyebrows as he tilted his head, trying to see anything but light, but it was useless, he didn't see what she saw. Gabriella walked into the ballroom with Troy following her, a soft song humming against her lips as she stepped into the falling light of the setting sun. Troy watched as the light rested against her skin, highlighting the yellowness of her dress and he looked away quickly, rubbing the back of his neck. _Now_ he saw it.

"You know, I've never been to a ball before." Gabriella said to him after a minute, twirling around as if she was pretending to dance with someone.

"Really? And you have a ballroom and everything." Troy replied, looking out the window where he could see the side of the yard, a colorful garden pressed up against the far fence.

"Yeah, and I don't even know how to dance." Gabriella added, clearly not happy with that fact as she stopped her swirling, looking out the window too.

Troy stuck his hands in his pockets, sighing. He glanced over at Gabriella, hoping and praying that she wouldn't ask the question he knew she was likely to ask. As he glanced away, he saw her look over at him from the corner of his eye. _Crap_.

"Do you know how to ballroom dance?" She asked him.

He hesitated, slowly scratching the back of his neck.

"Maybe."

"You do, don't you?" Gabriella asked with a laugh.

"Even if I did, you wouldn't know." Troy mocked her from earlier that day and she laughed again, rolling her eyes.

"Will you teach me?"

"No." He replied seriously, shaking his head at her question.

"Please?" She begged. "You taught me how to beat up a guy. You mine as well teach me how to dance with one."

Troy laughed softly, shrugging as he glanced over at her and he walked over next to her, taking his hands out of his pockets with a sigh.

"Promise me that you will not tell my friends I know how to do this." He said seriously.

"I promise." Gabriella smiled, looking over at him.

"Okay, I'll just teach you from here." Troy said, staying next to her. "Basically you move one foot forward and one foot back."

Troy slowly began doing that next to her, moving the way he would be if he was dancing with someone and Gabriella followed him gladly, doing the same thing he was doing next to him. She watched as his shiny black shoes moved against the floor with ease and she glanced up at him, seeing that he was simply looking down at his feet, doing the steps with ease.

"So, how'd you learn to do this?" Gabriella asked as they continued to move in the same motion.

"My mom taught me before my first homecoming dance." Troy answered; putting his hands in his pockets as Gabriella messed up slightly, getting back into rhythm slowly.

"I'm sure your date was impressed." She smiled.

"Nah, she dumped me." Troy admitted. "Apparently nowadays there's no such thing as ballroom dancing at homecoming. It's the furthest from an appropriate dance." He laughed softly, shaking his head.

"Well, if it means anything, I would have been impressed."

Troy looked over at her and smiled, looking back at his feet when she smiled back. President Montez slowed when he saw his daughter and her body guard in the ballroom side by side as they moved to the same steps. They were facing the window and from where he was standing he could see them both smiling as they talked to each other.

Gabriella's light yellow dress moved with her as Troy's suit made them look like they were going on some kind of fancy date and as President Montez sighed, shaking his head, he left them be, smiling softly because finally, someone got around to teaching her the right way to slow dance.

Troy walked in front of Gabriella, chuckling as she quickly stopped, not wanting to mess up now that he was no longer next to her.

"Now, you have to do the opposite of what I'm doing. I'll step forward, and you have to step back with the foot I'm coming towards." Troy said to her.

"That sounds complicated." Gabriella laughed.

"It's not." Troy said as he stepped towards her, watching their feet as she stepped back and then forward when he did. "Then you keep doing that." He said after, still keeping his eyes on their feet as they stood a good distance apart.

Gabriella smiled as she got the hang of the slow dance and she looked up in surprise when she felt Troy put his hand on her waist, taking her hand in his, slowly moving into a partnering dance that had Gabriella light headed. The way he simply picked up where they were and danced with her had goose bumps forming on her arms and they finally looked up at each other after studying their feet.

"Eventually, we start turning." Troy told her, moving slowly around so that she wouldn't mess up. As they took the time to learn how to turn together, Gabriella smiling the entire time, they didn't notice Rosy and Charles stop to watch them.

"Well, look at that." Charles smiled as he watched them, noticing how beautiful the room looked with only them occupying it.

"How long do you think it'll take them to fall in love?" Rosy asked quietly, smiling brightly as she looked at the young couple before her.

"How do you know it'll happen at all?" Charles asked her in surprise. "Troy knows he's not allowed to get involved."

Rosy shrugged, sighing lovingly as she saw Gabriella giggling.

"This is a Beauty and the Beast situation…"

"Troy's not a Beast." Charles chuckled.

"No, but he's off limits and she'll want him. It's as simple as that." Rosy explained, tugging at Charles shirt sleeve as Troy and Gabriella spun slowly together, facing them. Charles hurried away, not wanting to get caught watching them.

"When the song ends," Troy started as he looked into Gabriella's brown eyes, mesmerized shortly by them. "Your date, insert name here," Troy joked, causing Gabriella to smile. "Will either spin you or dip you. It all depends on what kind of dress you're wearing."

"So what would be the appropriate ending to this song?" Gabriella asked with a smirk, knowing there was no song they were dancing to.

"I would spin you, but because you're clumsier than most, I'm thinking a dip would be better." He smiled and before she could comment on his small insult, she was falling backward, feeling Troy's strong arm hold her up as her head tilted back, the view of the ballroom doors the only thing she could see before she closed her eyes peacefully.

Troy dipped her longer than he was supposed to, but as she fit against his arm perfectly and as he stared at her smooth golden skin of her neck, he couldn't help but want to look at her like that for a long time, but he slowly brought her back up, seeing that her eyes were closed as either one of her hands stayed pressed up against his chest while his wrapped around her.

She opened her eyes slowly and was greeted with Troy's blue eyes staring into hers. She could feel Troy's heart beating under her hand and its speed had her knees weakening underneath her. Was he thinking the same thing she was? When he glanced down at her lips she nearly fainted and he sensed that as she became heavier in his arms.

"You okay?" He asked quietly, his breath brushing against her face as their nose's touched just barely.

Gabriella nodded, speechless as one of the hottest guys she'd ever laid eyes on held her in his arms as if he wanted nothing more than to kiss her right in the middle of the empty ballroom in the shimmering sun falling through the windows.

But then.

She sneezed.

"I'm so sorry!" Gabriella said quickly, pulling away from him as he laughed, wiping his face off.

"It's okay." He laughed, seeing her clearly embarrassed in front of him, the moment ruined. He was glad she sneezed on him, otherwise he would have kissed her and everything would have been complicated after that. He had to get his act together. He wasn't supposed to be falling for the President's daughter and he definitely wasn't supposed to be thinking she was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen.

"I think I'm going to go to bed." Gabriella said to him, turning quickly as she nearly ran for the door. He smiled, letting her get a head start to her room and as he looked out the window again, he noticed the smallest rain drops sprinkling the window even as the sun set behind it.

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**unknownbyhim22**


	9. Playing Hero

**Hey Everyone! Thanks for the reviews, once again! I hope everyone is having a good weekend... Enjoy!**

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter nine

Playing Hero

Two days later, the door to Gabriella's room stayed open as she watched a Lakers game on her TV. Troy stood in his spot by her door, watching it while doing his job. He and Gabriella hadn't talked since the ballroom almost-kiss and neither of them had a problem with it. There was a crack of thunder overhead and Troy smirked when he noticed Gabriella bring the blanket she was using to cover up with further towards her face. It had been raining for the past two days, which gave Gabriella the perfect excuse to stay in her room.

About two hours later and when commercials were the only thing playing after the game was over, Troy noticed that Gabriella had fallen asleep and it was only eight o'clock. He guessed thunderstorms calmed her down and put her to sleep, but in a few more hours, he would figure out otherwise.

***

Troy was currently standing in a pitch-black hallway with a flashlight in his right hand that lit up a small circle by his feet. The lights had gone out because of the storm and he was told to go about his regular schedule while they tried to figure out why the backup generator wasn't working. It had been a while since he had seen a thunderstorm this severe, but he was never afraid of them.

He and Chad would run around in his backyard during them when Chad would spend the night and they would only come in when his mom and dad would run out in big raincoats screaming things about how they could get struck by lightening as they carried them in, telling them to get their pajama's on already.

It was memories like that that had him smiling in the darkest of days and now as he stood in the literal darkest day, he was still able to smile. As he sighed, missing his mom as he thought of her, he heard movement in Gabriella's room and became instantly still as he listened.

He heard a groggy groan come from Gabriella as he stepped closer to the open door and after a few more seconds of listening, he could hear her panicking, clearly talking in her sleep as she yelled at someone to leave her alone. Troy's eyebrows creased in confusion as he stood in her doorway, wondering if this dream of hers would pass but as a flash of lightening flashed, brightening the room he could see that she was tossing and turning as tears flowed down her face.

"Where are you?" He heard her mumble and suddenly, making him drop his flashlight and jump, she screamed, sitting up quickly in her bed.

Troy hurriedly went over to her, grabbing her arm gently as she folded against her legs, sobbing against them as her sweaty back heaved up and down. He didn't know what to do. These were the moments that he panicked. Like he told her before, he didn't know how to handle women, definitely when they were freaking out.

"Hey, Gabriella, it's okay." He said quietly, causing her to look up quickly as if she just realized that he was there next to her, like she didn't feel his hand on her arm before.

She immediately grabbed him, holding him tight around the neck and he tensed, but slowly relaxed as he put his arms around her, feeling her forehead against his neck.

"Where the hell were you?!" She asked him, saying this against him so that it was hard to hear her.

"What do you mean?" He asked her in confusion, moving his hand slowly on her back as she hiccupped.

"I had a nightmare that someone broke into my room through my window." She put her hand against her forehead, trying to calm down. "And you-you weren't outside when I ran out there. He…"

Her sentence trailed off into a new sob and he held her somewhat frightfully as she shook her head, wanting to forget about it. She lifted her head from his shoulder slowly, breathing sporadically as she realized that she was sitting on his lap and that he was still holding her.

"Don't worry about it, Gabriella." Troy said with a nod, seeing her tear stricken face as lightening flashed outside, lighting up the room momentarily. "Nothing's going to happen to you, okay?"

Gabriella nodded, breathing out shakily as she slowly calmed back down. She felt Troy's thumb against her cheek, brushing away the watery substance on her skin and as she moved her eyes from his arm to his face, she saw the way he was looking at her carefully. His long eyelashes brushed against his cheeks as another flash of lightening brightened the room and his eyes moved to hers as his hand trailed away from her face, stopping at her neck.

She moved her hand that was around his shoulder up to his shaggy hair that was soft against her palm as she ran her fingers through it. They could both tell they were debating whether or not they should change their relationship dramatically, but as Gabriella pulled Troy towards her, capturing his lips into a rough kiss, Troy gladly kissing her back, they both knew that they wouldn't have been able to resist each other; no matter how hard they tried.

Troy's hand rested underneath Gabriella's t-shirt on the small of her back as they pulled away, breathing heavily at their unexpected make out session and Gabriella smiled shyly at him, feeling her heart pounding.

Never before did she feel what she had while she was kissing Troy. With Drew, sure, it was fun occasionally and they had something for a while, but with Troy it was as if they had been kissing each other for years, meant to be together. Under these circumstances though they weren't so sure if they should go any further with their relationship. Should they be friends that kissed once? Should Troy stick to talking back to her? Should he get up now and leave her among the wrinkled sheets and thunderstorm just outside the window?

Neither of them knew the answers to those questions, but they were questioning everything as they stayed quiet, looking at each other in wonder. Troy played with a strand of her hair that lay against her back as he looked at her, the first out of the two to talk.

"I'll lay with you until you fall asleep." He said in a whisper, seeing the smile form on her face as she nodded.

"Okay." She whispered back, rolling off of his lap, setting her head on her usual pillow.

Troy looked down at her before lying down next to her, still skeptical about staying, but as her scent floated off of the pillow he laid his head on, he knew that he'd rather stay here now while the lights were out and no one was worried about her than to get up and leave now.

Gabriella scouted closer to Troy, lying her head on his pillow instead as he wrapped his arms around her, smiling to himself as Gabriella's forehead pressed against his neck. This had to be worth it, he thought as she ran her hand through his hair again, causing a shiver to run down his spin. He smiled down at her, seeing that she was becoming tired as she breathed steadily next to him, her hand slowing in his hair as she slowly drifted to sleep.

***

Gabriella woke up the next morning alone, before Rosy had a chance to come and wake her up. She smiled, pressing her face against her pillow as the scent of Troy lingered there and she quickly went into the bathroom to shower and get ready for her day.

When Troy heard Gabriella's bedroom door open he smiled, looking over at the doorway to see Gabriella smiling too, her hair slightly damp as it fell against her green t-shirt. He glanced down the hallway, looking both ways before pushing Gabriella into her room so that they weren't in viewing distance from anyone passing her hall.

He kissed her softly, pulling her close to him as he pulled away, winking at her.

"Morning Miss Montez." He smirked, quickly going back to the hallway to take his spot by her door.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be, huh?" Gabriella asked with a laugh, swatting him before making her way to the kitchen for breakfast. When they were there, Troy sat in front of her, looking into her eyes as they waited for her meal.

"How are you today, Troy?" She asked casually, hiding the smirk on her face as she put her hand over her mouth, leaning her elbow against the counter.

The kitchen staff glanced at the two, raising their eyebrows at them as they stirred and scrapped at the pots and pans on the large stoves in the kitchen.

"I'm good." He nodded. "The thunderstorm had everyone frantically rushing around last night." He told her as if she had no idea that there was a thunderstorm at all.

"Did you run around with a flashlight playing hero?" Gabriella joked, winking at him as she came up with a mysteriously clueless joke.

"Something like that." He replied with a nod.

"You two are mysteriously cheerful today," the main chef smiled as he set down a plate of food in front of Gabriella and she shrugged, plucking a strawberry from the plate and tossing it into her mouth.

"Rain can do that to people," Gabriella said, laughing softly with a shrug.

As the kitchen staff went about their daily routine, Gabriella and Troy sat quietly, inhaling the sweet smell of the air that blew through the open kitchen door. They talked only briefly about random topics that Gabriella would come up with, but other than that, they gave no hints to the staff that they were in any way involved.

"Do you want to go for a walk outside?" Gabriella asked Troy with a smile, pushing her plate to the side.

"I'm surprised you want to go out after the photographer incident," Troy said.

"Well, now that I can knock someone out myself thanks to you, I'm not too worried about going out there."

Gabriella stood, raising her eyebrow at him so he'd follow her out and he did, pulling a pair of dark aviators over his eyes once they were in the backyard. The flower pots around the backyard were recently rearranged by Mrs. Montez, so to the both of them, the backyard had a newer look.

"So, guess what?" Gabriella said with a smile, walking backwards so that she could look at him and walk at the same time.

"What?" Troy smiled, kicking a stray rock to the side, putting his hands in his pocket.

"We're having a ball here in a couple of days," she said, her smile growing since she could officially go to her first ball.

"Luckily you can ballroom dance now," Troy continued to grin, and then cleared his throat. "You're going to have to find a date. Might be awkward."

"I wouldn't worry about it," Gabriella responded quickly, as if she had thought a lot about what the night of the ball would bring. "I can go alone. You know, stand up for women's independence and all."

"Well, I'm sure you'll have a good time," Troy nodded, glad for her.

"Too bad you couldn't be my date."

"Yeah," Troy smiled, "to bad."

* * *

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**unknownbyhim22**


	10. The Dog Park

**Hey everyone! I almost have 300 reviews! I'm so excited! Well, this chapter is kind of a filler before the ball, but I like it. Enjoy!**

* * *

Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter ten

The Dog Park

A charity event was not necessarily what Gabriella had in mind for the Thursday morning before the ball, but she never passed one up that would not only help her father's campaign, but help Human Societies around the state. The first family was going to go to the park at noon to help give dogs hoping to get adopted, baths and attention.

Now, Gabriella was pulling her hair into a pony tail _and_ putting her jeans on at the same time. She wasn't exactly on time and she had already been warn by her dad that if they were late there would be serious consequences to pay.

She hopped out of her room with one shoe on and a piece of hair falling out of her loose ponytail already and Troy could only laugh as he held her up by the arm as she skipped forward while putting her other shoe on.

"Slept passed the alarm?" Troy asked, letting go of her, and starting a speed walk to keep up with her.

"Well, considering my alarm is Rosy, that's not necessarily possible, I actually just ignored her. I'm currently regretting it," Gabriella said as she breathed in quickly, realizing she was out of breath.

"Sounds like you."

"Haha," Gabriella laughed sarcastically as she raced to the limo, getting in only after Troy opened the door for her, his demeanor changing once he got inside where the president was sitting, talking to his wife about what the day would bring.

"Gabriella, do you really think a black t-shirt was an appropriate choice for today? You'll get dog hair all over you," Mrs. Montez said to her daughter as she adjusted the watch that decorated her wrist.

"Do you think white was a good choice? I mean, you'll be giving dogs baths… I hope you're not wearing sexy lingerie under there, that'd be embarrassing, ma," Gabriella giggled, hoping her mom would get the point that she didn't want to be told what to wear anymore.

"Inappropriate, Gabriella," Her father said with a stern look, indicating that he wanted nothing to ruin his day.

"Sorry," Gabriella replied, glancing over at Troy who was clearly trying to suck in a laugh as he sat next to Charles, who looked just as amused.

***

The crowd that filled the park once they got there was a good size. Most had their pet dogs, which was expected, but many were surveying the booths that had caged and leashed dogs in them, all ready to find a good home. Gabriella squealed when she saw the bundles of fur through her window, and just as the car stopped, she was already jumping out, inhaling the fresh breeze.

"Mr. Bolton, I trust that you'll control her," Mr. Montez said somewhat in annoyance, waving her off as if she was someone who brought him a great inconvenience.

"Yes, sir," Troy answered as he quickly followed her away from the car.

A woman grooming a white poodle smiled as the two of them passed her, probably because she recognized Gabriella, but Gabriella was only worried about escaping her parents for the evening.

"You know, you might want to slow down. It might seem obvious you're running away if you actually run," Troy said with a chuckle, walking briskly next to her.

"Did you see how quickly my mom criticized me when I got in the car?" Gabriella snorted, shaking her head.

"Maybe they're just stressed or something."

"That doesn't excuse it," Gabriella told him, shrugging with a short frown.

They were quiet as they walked further along the row of booths, but just as it was getting too quiet a very small, furry puppy bolted towards them, sending the crowd in a panicked frenzy to try to keep the dog from jumping on the President's daughter. Their efforts failed though, and the dogs leaped right towards Gabriella, leaving two sudsy paw prints on her black shirt.

"Whoa, bud."

Troy laughed as he scooped the dog up in his arms, smiling as Gabriella's uncontrollable giggles escaped and made the people around them relieved. She gave the puppy a good pet on the head and then took it from Troy's arms, talking in a baby talk that had Troy eyeing her.

"You're the cutest puppy in the world aren't you?" She continued to laugh, even as the owner of the dog finally got to them, looking apologetic.

"I'm so sorry!" The owner said with a shake of his head. "He's being trained. German Shepherds are a hand full!"

"What's his name?" Gabriella asked, handing the dog over to him while continuing to pet it since it was currently trying to lick her face.

"Moose."

"Moose?" Gabriella smiled. "That's a good name."

The owner smiled, turning his attention to disciplining the dog in the same baby talk that Gabriella had used on him, but even Troy and Gabriella knew that the dog wouldn't know the difference between doing something bad or good when being talked to in that voice. They continued on, making their way to the dog baths that were in the middle of the park. Troy talked into his collar after hearing Charles in his ear, wondering where they were, and Gabriella escaped from his view temporarily while being talked through the steps to giving a dog a bath.

Troy quickly talked to Charles and then found Gabriella again, looking excited as a small poodle-like dog sat impatiently in a round plastic baby pool that was filled with clean water.

"Have you ever done this before?" The woman who was handing over a bottle of baby shampoo over to Gabriella asked.

"No, but how hard could it be?" Gabriella asked.

The woman laughed and shook her head, looking over at Troy who stood with his hands in his pocket on the opposite side of the pool.

"Well, luckily you have some muscle with you. Maybe he can hold the dogs down, and you can do the rest?" The woman handed her a hose, and was off to directing more volunteers to different pools set up around them.

"Come on, muscles, hold the dog," Gabriella laughed, rolling her jeans up to her knees so they wouldn't get wet when she was standing in the pool.

"Very funny, Miss Montez."

Gabriella furrowed her brow, but quickly noticed her parents walking by them, greeting bystanders. She rolled her eyes, petting the dog after kicking her shoes off and stepping in the pool with it.

"Are you going to help?" She asked Troy, scooping water onto the dog to get it wet before adding soap.

"I'm not exactly in the best clothing for this," Troy said, looking down at his suit. "I was only supposed to stand by and be sure no one harassed you."

"Are you afraid to get wet, Bolton? Or are you just afraid of some hard work?"

Troy eyed her, taking his jacket off, and tossing it onto the ground next to him, stepping forward and squeezing the bottle of shampoo until a quarter sized drop hit the dog's fur. The dog looked up at him curiously, but let him continue anyway.

"See, this isn't so bad," Gabriella said as she rubbed the shampoo on the dog, wiggling her toes under the water, liking the feel of her bare feet against the cool water.

"Says the woman wearing jeans and a t-shirt. I can already feel sweat dripping down my back in this," Troy grumbled, fine with taking care of the dogs, but not satisfied with the outfit he had to wear while doing it.

"Well, you look hot."

Gabriella looked at him with a wink, causing his eyebrows to rise above his sunglasses, and a confident grin to appear on his face.

"So do you," He smiled, causing her to happily start a silly conversation with the dog that was currently slurping up the soapy water.

After a good rinse and a towel dry from Troy, their first dog they were assigned to wash was brought to the next grooming station, and a new dog was brought to them. This one, though, forced Gabriella to get out of the pool and for Troy to become worried.

"A Saint Bernard?" Gabriella said when the woman finally got it into the pool.

"Let's see if you think this is easy after a few of these."

"I think she's mocking me," Gabriella said to Troy once the woman was gone.

"I do too."

Troy sprayed water onto the dog with a hose and held onto the collar while Gabriella did everything else. The dog was only worried about the other dogs around it and insisted on jumping out of the pool a few times, but other than that, it wasn't too difficult.

"I wanted a dog when I was little. I asked for it for at least a year straight, but I never got one," Gabriella started when they were in the middle of washing a black lab.

"I had a golden retriever when I was ten. It got hit by a car and Chad found it when he was coming home from a Christmas vacation one year. He was scared for life."

"That's terrible!" Gabriella said in surprise, saddened by the thought.

Troy shrugged, nodding.

"It took me a while to get over it," he admitted as he dried the dog off, laughing when the dog licked him constantly on the face.

"I bet," Gabriella said. "It makes me glad I never got a dog."

"I think it'd be good for you. You know, since you seem lonely."

"Do I really seem lonely?" Gabriella asked as she wiped her forehead off while waiting for another dog to be brought to their station.

"Yeah, you do," Troy nodded, smiled softly at her. "But I don't blame you. I'd be too if I were you."

Gabriella nodded, understanding. As they stood, looking at the soapy water in the pool and at the people around them, they were brought another dog, this one a golden retriever.

"His name's Buddy," the woman said, putting him in the pool.

Gabriella frowned, worried that Troy would become reminded of his old dog, but he just continued, bending down to get a good look at the old dog. Gabriella walked to the side of the pool Troy was at and bumped his shoulder with hers as a way of saying, you're cute, you know that? And he did the same back, as a way of saying; I know you think I'm hot.

Just as they were about to rinse the dog off, a squirrel, who was so daring and brave, slowly tiptoed down the oak tree that was just a few feet away from them and waited for a dog to see them. And the dog that saw it first, just so happened to be Buddy.

"Troy…" Gabriella screeched, as the dog bounded out of the tub, sending Gabriella's feet to fly out from underneath her because she was the one holding onto him.

"Shit!" Troy grabbed Gabriella just as the dog took off and they both went tumbling into the dog hair infested bath water, their legs hanging over the side since they were two times the size of the pool.

The first thing that Troy heard when he came up from the shallow water was a chocking sound from Gabriella as she laughed and gasped for air at the same time. He quickly sat up in the water, wiping water off of his face and even before he opened his eyes he knew they had drawn a crowd.

His blurred vision slowly came back into focus and Gabriella leaned into him, laughing still. Her hair was soaking wet and she grabbed onto his arm, trying to stay up, unfazed by the crowd. Troy laughed too, forgetting that he was on duty for a second, but when he saw Mr. and Mrs. Montez and Charles, he quickly snapped out of his happy look.

"Let me help you up," Troy said as he took Gabriella's arm, pulling her up with him.

Gabriella continued to laugh, ignoring the fact that they were both soaking wet and standing in an ankle-deep pool of water that they had just washed tens of dogs in. Gabriella was still holding onto Troy's arm for support when she saw her parents out of the corner of her eye. She quickly let go and exchanged a look with Troy as they both stepped out of the pool, looking somewhat guilty at the adults watching them.

"Nice day, isn't it?" Gabriella said to the crowd, making them laugh happily, as if young girls falling into a sudsy dog bath happened all of the time at these events. Sooner than later, the crowd separated, going on with their day.

"Gabriella, what were you thinking?" Her mother said as she rushed towards her, grabbing her by the arm like she was worried her daughter would jump in again.

"I wasn't thinking anything, mom, the dog pulled me in," Gabriella said innocently.

"Yeah, and I'm sure the dog pulled Troy in with you, right?"

Gabriella's stomach sank and she glanced over at her mom who gave her a hard stare into her eyes when they made eye contact. She swallowed, looking away from her mom so that her expression wouldn't turn into a guilty one.

"At least I didn't wear white, right?" Gabriella smiled, nudging her mom.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Miss Montez nodded, smiling at the people who were glancing their way as they walked towards the row of limos they came in.

Once they got to the car, they waited for the rest of the people they came with. Troy, Charles, Mr. Montez, a few other security guards and a few press people. When everyone appeared from the crowd and formed a group around the limo door, Gabriella couldn't help but smile at her soaked boyfriend.

"Alright, Troy, I think I've got this from here, why don't you head home and get changed," Mr. Montez said when everyone was filing into the limo. "We'll send a car if you need one."

"No need, Mr. President. I live just around the corner," Troy nodded.

Mr. Montez patted his shoulder, ducking into the limo and closing the door behind him. Troy squinted at the sunny sky, realizing that he no longer had his sunglasses, but didn't feel like going back to get them. The limo slowly pulled away, and he watched it for a minute, until it was far away enough to have no control over.

Gabriella strained her neck to see through the back window, getting only a glimpse of Troy while she was drying off with a towel that security had picked up somewhere. She frowned slightly as she watched Troy walk against the crowd. In the opposite direction of her.

***

"Miss Montez, Troy's back," Rosy whispered as she opened the bathroom door, seeing Gabriella brushing her wet hair after her shower that night.

Gabriella looked at her in confusion, hoping to give the elusion that she had no idea what Rosy was talking about.

"Okay, but why is that my worry?" Gabriella asked.

Rosy smirked, grabbing a lone towel from the floor and folding it in her arms. She patted it, and then set it on the counter, knowing it could be used again.

"I may be a maid, Miss Montez, but I'm not an idiot," she said, with a smile, giving Gabriella a knowing look.

"Rosy… do you?" Gabriella stopped in the middle of her sentence, not sure what she was asking.

"The staff knows everything that goes on in the White House, sweetheart. Even if the President doesn't."

Gabriella's mouth hung open as Rosy turned and hummed a careless song as she left her to think about what she said. The sound of her door room shutting was the only thing she heard after Rosy cheerfully said hello to Troy, as if purposely showing Gabriella that he was really out there.

She tiptoed towards the door, noticing that it was night outside now and that everyone in the White House was probably doing their evening chores or activities. Troy turned his head when Gabriella appeared in the hallway, looking down each ends before pulling him by the arm into her room.

"Gabriella, this isn't a good idea," Troy said, watching as she shut the door behind them. "I already got in trouble once today."

"Rosy knows, Troy."

"Knows what?"

"About us," Gabriella said quietly, as she put her hands on her hips.

"How? If Rosy knows, that means…" Troy shook his head, sighing.

"The whole staff knows!" Gabriella nodded. "I know!"

"Just forget about that for tonight. Tomorrow's the ball and you have that to worry about, okay? We'll figure out what to do later," he said, clearly looking stressed.

Gabriella nodded again, stepping closer to him and giving him a long, I-don't-know-what-I'd-do-without-you hug that Troy returned back to her. He kissed the top of her head before stepping out of her embrace and towards the door, opening it, and returning to his spot in the hallway.

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**unknownbyhim22**


	11. The Ball

**Thanks for all of the reviews! I'm so glad that you all like this story! I think this is the chapter you've all been waiting for... I just don't think it'll be what you expected it to be. Enjoy!**

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter eleven

The Ball

It had been a stressful week getting ready for the ball for "Princesses of America", an organization that Gabriella held close to her heart, along with coincidentally, Sharpay Evans. This event raised money for girls who were underprivileged and didn't have the money to go to prom or have a day feeling like a princess and this event made sure that as many of those girls could get their day in the sun.

Since the first lady Mrs. Montez was a big contributor to the donations; the event was being held in the White House ballroom and was only open to the most famous, richest, and important women, along with their chosen dates. But if you were Gabriella Montez, you didn't have a date, and if you were Taylor Mckessie, you were invited anyways because not only were you friends with Sharpay Evans, but you knew the President's daughter.

Gabriella rushed down the White House hallway as she held up her long dark purple dress, one that if she went outside would wave in the wind, not stick next to her body like a normal, Cinderella ball gown. This one showed most of her tan back, falling in a V at the small of her back and the front was beaded with clear, sparkling beads that occasionally picked up the light. Her silver shoes could be seen appear from underneath the light dress each time she took a step and as she looked at the clock, she knew she would be late if she didn't pick up her pace.

So that is why she started to run, feeling small pieces of her hair fall from her up do, but when she passed a mirror in the hallway, she noticed that it added more of a fun, relaxed look to her attire, rather than make her seem uptight and uncomfortable.

She could hear the music playing through the ballroom doors and she panicked shortly, knowing that she'd walk in by herself and all attention would fall on her if she came in loudly, or tripped when she walked in, but as she was about to forget the ball all together, the door opened and Troy appeared, talking to Charles about parking and using security code.

Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the more formal suit that he was wearing and when he stopped mid-sentence when he saw her, she felt her knees go weak, her pounding heart numbing the rest of her body as she tried to think of something to say.

"Hi."

She rolled her eyes inwardly at herself, only coming up with a word with one syllable that meant nothing but the opposite of goodbye. His lips formed into a smile slowly and Charles took that moment to walk away, talking to a different member of the secret service as he left them alone. She couldn't say anything else as he stepped closer to her, his hands in his pockets.

"You look amazing." He said to her after staring at her a little bit longer.

"Thanks." Again, one syllable and she knew if she didn't start adding some true content to her responses she would regret it later. "Is it crowded in there?" That might work.

"Yeah. Tons of important famous people." He nodded, smiling as he must have seen her cringe. "But you're the most beautiful person I've seen tonight." She smiled at his answer and blushed as she looked down at her purple dress.

"I wish you could be my date." Gabriella said honestly, smiling at another passing White House employee.

"Me too." He nodded as he memorized the way her face looked framed by her dark hair and he noticed now that her eye makeup was much darker than it usually was, bringing out her eye color. "But your dad might kill me if he sees me with you." He chuckled softly and Gabriella's nerves slowly disappeared at the sound of it.

"I should…"

"Yeah. Go." Troy said quickly, smiling at her as he put his hand on the door knob of the door, ready to open it for her so she could make her entrance. "Gabriella…" Troy started, putting his hand on her arm to stop her before he opened the door. "If there are any surprises tonight… just go with it. Don't let the little things ruin your night."

"Wait, what do you mean—" She was stopped as he opened the door for her, causing the people inside to draw their attention to her. She felt her stomach flip, realizing that it didn't take tripping to get noticed at a place like this. Be the only one in purple and dark makeup and you'd be a show stopper.

"Good luck." Troy whisper behind her as he shut the door, observing her almost bare back that was appropriate, yet risky for her and as the door blocked her from his view, he was left feeling disappointed that he wasn't there to watch her for the rest of the night.

The first person Gabriella saw as she tried to control her breathing as everyone smiled at her was Sharpay. She was in a light pink, completely sparkly dress and as Gabriella stepped further through the crowd, hoping people would start looking away, Sharpay waved at her, and then Gabriella noticed Taylor in a shorter olive green dress that was obviously one of Sharpay's. She smiled at them, happy to have a group to escape to now that she had them as friends.

"Girl, I hope Troy saw you in that." Taylor smiled, causing Sharpay to laugh with a nod, looking at her flawless friend.

"Yeah…" Gabriella blushed, glancing around the room to see who was there. "He did."

More giggling came from Taylor and Sharpay as they replaced squeals with smiles, knowing that jumping around like they were at a girls-only sleepover wouldn't be appropriate to do at a ball.

"So, Gabriella, who's your lucky date?" Sharpay asked her after another moment of laughing about Troy with Taylor.

"I don't have one." Gabriella nodded, turning back to her friends after looking around the crystal white room. "If I can't go with… you know than I didn't want to take anyone."

"The weather _is_ nice today, isn't it?" Taylor nodded seriously and as Gabriella looked at her in confusion, Sharpay shot her a warning look and that's when Gabriella felt a thin hand on her arm, turning to see her mom and dad.

"You look beautiful, sweetheart." President Montez said with a smile. "No one can take their eyes off of you."

Gabriella glanced around the room again, smiling as she shrugged at her dad's words.

"I don't know whether to be disturbed or flattered." She said with a small smile, one that gave away that she was somewhat bored already of this place, which surprised her parents, but they didn't say anything about it.

"Have fun, girls. We'll be around." Mrs. Montez said, squeezing her daughter's arm gently before walking away with her husband, going over to the Vice President and his wife, where they instantly began to laugh, as if they had been in a conversation earlier with each other.

"So." Gabriella turned back to her friends, not sure what to say in these circumstances. "It looks like it's going to be a long night."

"Well, at least you can look at your man candy." Sharpay giggled with a wink, seeing the surprised look on Gabriella's face as she said it.

Gabriella had been looking around the room for Troy to see if he had come in since she did and now as her friend said he was inside, she looked behind her, noticing now that Troy was walking in front of the DJ with Charles, both of them talking still as they came to a stop by the back door.

"He's looking particularly down tonight, don't you think?" Taylor asked them, looking at Troy from their spot by one of the round dinner tables, worrying of course as Sharpay observed him for a moment, nodding after.

"He looks down?" Gabriella asked her, not seeing a different in his appearance compared to how he looked on a regular day.

"Do you see the way his hands are in his pockets?" Sharpay asked quietly as the President and the First Lady walked by them to talk to more guests.

"Yeah… I guess I noticed that before." Gabriella nodded.

"That means he's uncomfortable or awkward… and those bags under his eyes indicated that he was clearly up thinking all night. These are all clear signs that he's not in his best state of mind." Sharpay explained particularly.

"Remind me again why you wasted your time with fashion? You could have been some kind of interrogator for the NYPD with the knowledge you have on body language." Taylor snorted, shaking her head at Sharpay's knowledge.

"Fashion is my calling. Reading body language is my… motherly instinct." Sharpay nodded, knowing that this was true. Her whole life she could read the people closest to her like a book, but fashion was her dream, and she went after it immediately.

"Motherly instinct my butt." Taylor groaned, looking around the room again. "I need something to eat."

As Gabriella and Sharpay watched her walk away from them, they laughed softly, realizing that no matter where Taylor was, she'd say what was on her mind, appropriate or not. When Taylor came back, her eyes were wide and she had no food with her, only a cup of punch that she set on the table closets to her.

"I just offered Oprah Winfrey a cucumber sandwich… and she took it!" She exclaimed, fanning her face as she squatted into the chair next to her, pulling her friends down with her so they were sitting in the chairs next to her.

"Aw, I should say hello to her." Sharpay smiled, sitting up quickly as she walked in the direction her friend came from.

"How are you two so calm when it comes to celebrities? I nearly peed my pants and Sharpay goes to say _hello_!" Taylor slumped against the back of her chair, sighing as Gabriella only giggled in response, too busy watching Troy to look around for any more celebrities.

"_Holy_ crap." Sharpay was walking quickly back to her seat, sitting down instantly as she put her hand over her perfectly glossed lips, squealing into it as she tried not to have some kind of screaming girl fit. "Brad Pitt was by the Punch Bowl!" She told them.

"Oh, _come on_." Taylor said with an eye roll. "I was in the presence of a very inspirational woman and you met the man who's poster hung on your ceiling above your bed for your entire life and you call that a freak-worthy moment?" Taylor asked her, laughing when Sharpay nodded, speechless for the first time in her life.

"_His _wife was wearing one of _my_ dresses, can you believe that?" She asked in a whisper, noticing the people staring at her who were seated at the table next to them.

"I think I need something to drink." Gabriella said to them with a laugh, feeling her dry throat ache as she looked around the room and the few dancing guests and the bright lights.

"Oh, if Brad's there, tell him those shoes of his are so yesterday!" Sharpay told her with a smile.

"I'm not telling him that!"

"Well, if you see Oprah tell her if she needs a personal assistant that I'll—"

Gabriella walked away quickly, laughing as she went across the room to get some punch from the crystal fountain on the long table. She wondered why they needed a fountain for the punch as she got some, knowing that no matter how the punch came out, it'd still taste the same.

As she was finishing her drink, debating if she wanted a piece of cheese with a bored expression on her face, she felt a warm hand on her back, making her smile softly.

"Looks like someone is bored without me in their life." Her smile dropped instantly at the sound of his voice, along with her stomach as she picked up a piece of cheese, ready to use it as ammo.

"What the hell," She started too loudly and she knew that as another celebrity glanced her way quickly, going back to talking to a dark skinned man, one who was waving his hands excitedly as he explained something to him. "Are you doing here?" She whispered the last part, pushing his hand away from her as he laughed.

"I'm your date, Babe." Drew's confident smirk made her want to gag as she shook her head, raising her eyebrows defensively.

"You are not." She hissed. "How'd you get in here anyways?" She looked around for security, but Troy and Charles were still talking to each other, Charles confused as Troy shrugged.

"How'd Drew Boy get in here?" Charles asked Troy as he was about to call Code Red, knowing that once he was a security threat once, he would be considered one, until otherwise proven wrong or if he was signed off as allowed to come back. This could only be done by the security. Not even the President could allow a threat back in the house without consent from one of the many men in charge of protecting him and his family.

"The First Lady wanted him to be here for the ball, apparently. Miss Montez didn't have a date." Troy explained simply, as if Gabriella was just another boss of his, no one important, no one he was involved with.

"That's because her date is standing next to me." Charles whispered to him. "Who signed him back in?" He asked quickly.

Troy's hands dug deeper into his pockets as he saw the worried expression on Gabriella's face get madder and then, as Drew said something, she threw a small object at him and as it bounced on the ground after it hit him, he noticed that it was a piece of cheese. And he would have smiled. If he didn't have to answer.

"I did."

The loud sigh from Charles indicated that he didn't understand young guys like him anymore and he ran a hand over his tired eyes, looking at the male who was being pelted with dairy products.

"This is why I never got married and continued to work here. I don't understand relationships." Charles said in a low voice, shaking his head as Troy shrugged, still looking uncomfortable as he watched Gabriella and Drew from a distance, feeling anger rise in him slowly as Drew grabbed Gabriella by the arm, pulling her against him as he seemed to be done with being a human target.

"I suggest you stop throwing cheese at me and start dancing with me. Maybe then will I leave." He whispered to her, feeling how tense she was in his arms. She quickly ripped herself away from him, glaring so evilly at him that he raised his eyebrows.

"I hate you." She told him harshly as he grabbed her hand, pulling her onto the dance floor where they could clearly be seen together among the few couples dancing.

As bystanders smiled at the two, Gabriella looked around the room, seeing Taylor and Sharpay looking at her in confusion, wondering who the new guy was and each time she looked over at Troy, he looked away, pretending as if he had other people to watch and protect, but in all honesty she was the only one he needed to be concerned about.

"Why are you doing this to me?" She asked him after a minute, looking at him seriously as they simply bopped to the song, not up for dancing to the upbeat music.

"I'm not doing anything to you, Babe. I'm simply here to get back what is rightfully mine." His smirk grew and she continued to hate him.

"You didn't own me." Gabriella spat back, hearing how he made her seem like some kind of object, rather than a person. "I'm glad I got ride of you."

The annoying song that had been playing slowly came to an end, changing to a slow song, one that made Gabriella feel the one piece of cheese she ate coming back up. Drew grabbed her hand, pulling her closely again, his hand on her bare back.

"Looks like fate wants us back together. This is our song."

"Well, luckily I'm up to ignoring _fate_." She said, pulling away from him roughly, looking around the room again, now seeing Sharpay and Taylor by the punch bowl, watching her from their spot, ignoring, oddly Brad Pitt and Oprah Winfrey who were right next to them.

"Here's the thing," Drew started, pulling her back to him, and causing her to groan in annoyance as he roughly grabbed her arm. "I know about you and your body guard."

Gabriella's heart raced as she glared at him again, seeing that he was serious as she looked into his eyes. He ran a hand over her bare arm, causing goose bumps to appear as she kept her breathing even.

"What do you want in order to keep the secret?" She asked, glancing away from him when he smirk, embarrassed that she was willing to sink this low.

"I want you," He started, dragging her face closer to his with his finger, seeing her eyes darken as she shoved his hand away from under her chin. "To kiss me. Right here. Right now… in front of your new friends. And your boyfriend, who hasn't stopped staring at you all night, by the way."

Gabriella could feel a puddle of tears form in the corners of her eyes as she shook her head, thinking about how cruel that would be.

"No. I'm not doing that." She said to him, feeling his arms leave her waist as he smirked still.

"Fine." She felt her stomach flip again as he took a step away from her. "I'll be happy to tell your father what you've been up to."

As he began to turn, leaving her in the middle of their song, on the dance floor, she panicked, feeling a panic attack approaching as she grabbed him by the arm, pulling him towards her as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him as he wrapped his arms around her. For a second, only a second, maybe even a half of a second, she felt something as he picked her up like he always did when he kissed her, but as the kiss got deeper and he set her down, pulling away from her, she felt anger bubbling inside of her like a pot of water ready to boil over.

As he wiped the lipstick left on his lips off of him, he smiled, brushing a piece of her loose hair away from her lips, where it got stuck in her lip gloss during the kiss. He could tell that she was breathing deeply, her chest rising and falling quickly as she looked around the room.

Gabriella felt her tears continue to pile up as she saw Troy watching her, a hurt look on his face as Charles shook his head, disappointed. She felt her hands shaking as she saw the distance between herself and Drew and without thinking, while sick of looking at his smug smile, she pulled her arm back and punched him, right there in the middle of the dance floor, in front of Oprah Winfrey and a whole bunch of other talk show hosts like Ellen, who would be talking about this in the morning, witnessing the whole thing:

Drew whipping his bloody lip with a pissed expression, the guests gasping and dispersing around the room, and Gabriella running for the door in her perfectly purple dress as the security took care of everything else… along with the scum hunched over on the dance floor.

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**unknownbyhim22**


	12. Nothing like a Fairytale

**Hey everyone! Thanks so much for all of the reviews! I can't believe I already have close to 400! It makes me happy! This chapter may not be what most of you expect, but I personally love it. It's shorter than most of my chapters too, but it has a lot in it! Oh and a reminder: Mother's Day is on Sunday! Don't forget! Enjoy!**

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter twelve

Nothing like a Fairytale

Gabriella felt like Cinderella as she ran down the hallway, although she was the one who turned the clock forward, leaving way before midnight, and there was no way her strappy designer shoes were falling off of her tan feet. And she was crying, but there was no destroyed pumpkin or mice to talk to, only her closed bedroom door to open, and to slam to release her anger before running over to her large windows, opening one so that she could get some air in the room, knowing that she'd be hyperventilating within seconds.

There was no Prince Charming either, following behind her to look for a lost shoe that wouldn't be there, but if you counted Troy coming in quickly, tripping over all of the shoes that she tried on to find the perfect pair, then maybe you could call him Prince Charming, but he wasn't allowed to be there and he was panting, as if he'd dealt with too much in a few minutes.

Gabriella was fanning her face when he came in, he noticed, and she was standing by her window, trying to breathe calmly as her dress flowed behind her, draping over her body perfectly even as she cried.

"Gabriella…" Troy started quietly so he wouldn't startle her.

Gabriella looked away quickly from the window when she heard him and she felt her lip tremble as he walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her shaking body as her knees became weak underneath her like they always did during panic attacks.

"What were you thinking?" He asked her against her hair as he shook his head.

She looked up from where she was leaning against his chest and shook her head too, wiping her tears away from her face.

"I'm so sorry, Troy." Her voice cracked as she said this, truly sorry. "He threatened that if I didn't kiss him, he'd tell my dad about us."

"I wasn't talking about that… I was talking about the fact that you just punched your dad's campaign manager's son at the ball to raise money for underprivileged girls."

"Well… maybe girls can get the privilege of going to a self defense class." She mumbled, pulling her hand away from around Troy's arm, bringing it closer to her face so that she could see the damage because she could definitely feel it throbbing already.

"Gabs…" Troy gasped in a manly way as he saw her hand, setting it between his as he saw her knuckles bruised and red. Her ring finger especially was purple, swollen already and as he brushed his finger gently across it, she winced, drawing her hand back.

"Why'd you do that?" He asked her quietly, seeing the tears brimming the bottom of her eyes again.

"He was going to hurt you." She said this sadly as if it was hurting her just by saying it. She looked up at him slowly, and let the tears fall freely from her eyes. "I'm not the only one who needs someone to protect me…" Troy looked at her in confusion and still held her hand between his. "So I thought I might return the favor."

Troy shook his head, looking down at her hand instead of focusing on her sad face and beautiful dress.

"Protecting you is my job, Gabs. You didn't have a responsibility to take care of me…"

"So if this wasn't your job… you wouldn't…"

"I never said that." His serious and louder voice startled her, causing her to look into his dark blue eyes with wonder, seeing the realization in his eyes that he'd never raised his voice at her.

"But I do have a responsibility to take care of you." Gabriella said to him. "I promised Sharpay I would when I first met her."

Troy slowly let go of her hand, watching as she rubbed it gently with her other one and she stood tall as she looked up at him, her makeup still the same as it was, only now it was lightly smudged around her eyes.

"You felt something when you kissed Drew." Troy finally said after a few seconds of silence. He watched as she looked offended, hurt by his assumption.

"I did not."

"I saw it." He said with a nod. "For a second there… you were back to your old self… you punched him because you were mad that you felt something again."

"No." She shook her head, mad at him.

"If it's your job to take care of me, Gabriella, just don't lie to me and tell me the truth." He said, feeling a quivering feeling in his chest as he spoke, his hands finding his pockets, causing Gabriella to put her face against her unharmed hand. She looked up at him finally, the tears still falling quickly as she opened her mouth to speak.

"I love _you_." She said to him, seeing the way he stepped back when she said it.

If she wasn't heartbroken before, she definitely was now, seeing him saying something into his collar as he replied to something he heard in his ear.

"I'm sorry." He said to her finally, looking into her eyes from his spot a few feet away from her. "This wasn't in my job description." She let out a quiet cry as he said this like he felt nothing and she was standing right in front of him, feeling everything for the both of them. "I shouldn't have dragged you into this. It was a mistake."

"A _mistake_?" She repeated in disbelief. "I was a mistake."

Troy shook his head, like this wasn't how he wanted this to go down.

"I know that we can't take back our feelings for each other or forget about the times we snuck into the bowling alley when your parents weren't home to pretend we were on a normal date, but that's just it… none of this was normal." He told her.

"You can't say anything about this, Troy." She pleaded. "Just let me have this secret… please."

"Drew is going to talk to your dad, Gabriella. He was going to even if you kissed him and didn't punch him." Troy replied.

Gabriella put her hand against her forehead, feeling her head spinning as the loss of breath took a hold of her, causing her to tumble forward and for Troy to catch her just like he always did when she fell.

"Hey, hey." He said quietly, lifting her in his arms, walking her over to her bed and setting her down as she tried catching her breath. He knelt down by her bed, feeling her hand tightly around his own as she looked at him, her eyes watering. "You have to stop freaking yourself out, okay?" He asked, brushing her hair back with his free hand as she nodded, looking at him with regret.

"Can you stay with me until we know he's gone?" She asked him like she had last time, only last time it worked, this time he shook his head slowly.

"He's gone." He whispered. "I made sure of it before I came."

"Troy…" She started as he stood up, releasing her hand. "Why does this have to be over?" The tears falling from her eyes reminded him of the fact that he did a poor job of protecting her because in the end she needed protecting from him, not any outside threat, but the one inside, guarding her door, only letting himself in when he thought he was doing her a favor.

He bent down, pulling her up towards him, his hand resting on the bare part of her back as he pressed his lips against hers, feeling her kissing him back gently, only to be disappointed as he set her back on the bed, leaving her quickly so that he didn't have to say anything else and so she wouldn't ask the question he knew would come next. _Don't you love me?_ Because his answer would hurt the both of them in the long run. His answer was always, and forever: _yes_.

And now, she felt like Sleeping Beauty, but Sleeping Beauty wasn't put to sleep by Prince Charming. She was woken up by him after he fought off the dragon… But Gabriella felt herself falling asleep as her crying found a way to sooth her and as the dragon made his way to her room, ready to find out why suddenly Cinderella turned into a depressed Princess confined to her bed, she closed her eyes, hoping and praying that maybe the same guy who put her to sleep would be the one to wake her up again from this nightmare tomorrow morning.

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**unknownbyhim22**


	13. Goodbyes

**Hey everyone! Your reviews have been amazing! I'm so happy to see more and more coming in each week. Thank you so much! On a seperate note, I met Katharine McPhee today at church. Yup, just thought I'd share... AWWWWW! I'm so excited. She is awesome! I recommend getting her CD, it's really good- definitly something that makes the writing process easier. **

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter thirteen

Goodbyes

When Gabriella opened her eyes the next morning, it was dark. And that scared her. Usually by now, Rosy would be pulling her curtains apart to let the sun in, but as she looked at the clock, seeing that it was 9:30, she sighed, liking that no one was yelling at her about last night's bad behavior. She sat up slowly, seeing that she was still in her dress and heels. Her dress was wrinkled and while looking around her room, last night played in her mind. Troy tripping over her shoes that were still on the floor, Troy leaving, Troy breaking her heart and then suddenly she realized… TROY!

She jumped off of her bed, running towards the door, but before she opened it, she leaned her head against it, seeing if she could hear anything on the other side, but she knew the doors were sound proof. She took a deep breath, trying to prepare herself for what she may or may not see.

She did not prepare herself though for the burning hot substance that ran down the front of her dress when she stepped outside, running into a cup of coffee that was held out for her. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the most beautiful dress she had ever seen in her life ruined by her morning coffee that she _used to_ expect.

"Sorry, Miss Montez!" She heard a familiar voice next to her, causing her to open her eyes.

"Charles?" She said after a moment of starring, seeing that he was setting the coffee cup on the floor, pulling out a handkerchief from his suit pocket, handing it to her.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Montez. I didn't think you'd run into it!"

"Charles," She started calmly, feeling her skin itching from where the hot drink landed, but she looked at him, ignoring her discomfort. "The coffee isn't the problem." She smiled quickly, giving him a look. "Where's Troy?"

Charles didn't reply right away, which was what made her pick up her long dress, pull out her loose pony tail that was already falling out of her hair and run as fast as she could to where the only person who had control over the people who protected her would be.

Obviously without knocking, and with Charles hot on her trails, she slammed open the door to her father's office, stopping quickly when she saw Troy standing before her dad, his suit jacket off, leaving only his white dress shirt and black tie visible as he put his hands in his pant pockets. Everyone in the room, including her mom and dad, looked her way when she entered.

Troy's jaw clenched tighter together when he saw Gabriella standing before him, her eyes red and puffy, her hair messy and out of place, and her dress completely drenched with what smelled like coffee. He looked away when she made eye contact with him, walking calmly over to her father's desk, seeing that he was avoiding eye contact with her.

"What's going on?" She asked strongly, looking at her mom with pleading eyes, only to see her look away, back down to the pass and jacket that she had in her hands, obviously items that once belonged to Troy.

"Is anyone going to look at me or are you all going to act like a bunch of cowards?" She asked, causing her dad to look angry and the security and other members of Congress raise their eyes distastefully.

Suddenly, all eyes were on her and no one looked happy or joyful, most gave her pitiful looks as the beautiful girl they saw the night before stood _ruined_ before them. She looked angrily at her dad, who returned the look easily. Someone behind her cleared their throat, interrupting the tension and Gabriella clenched her left fist tightly together in anger, still feeling her right hand throbbing from the night before.

"Hello!" She said louder, seeing out of the corner of her eye Troy shifting uncomfortably in his spot.

"Why don't you sit down?" President Montez said, motioning for a chair to be brought to her, but she didn't sit once it was placed behind her.

"I don't need to sit down." She said back to him, wanting to cross her arms over her chest, but she would get coffee all over her arms, so instead she left her arms swaying at her side.

"You're making this a lot harder than it needs to be, sweetheart." Mrs. Montez said to her, smiling over at her sadly from her spot next to her husband.

"Maybe it would be easier if you hadn't invited Drew to be my date last night." She said back, giving her mom a blank look that indicated that she was still fuming with madness over her act of butting in.

"What you did last night was inappropriate and uncalled for, Gabriella." Her dad said seriously, clearly upset with her as he looked up at her, then glancing at Troy. "Thankfully Drew called me this morning to stop… any further inappropriate acts on your part."

"Do you really think I would sleep with Troy in this house, Dad? The _White House_?"

Mrs. Montez gasped and the person who had cleared his throat earlier was now hacking behind her as if he had chocked on something, and there was a quiet murmuring among the security, probably gossiping through their communication devices. Troy rocked more steadily in his spot next to her, his hands still in his pockets. The President looked at the both of them seriously, not sure of what got into his daughter… she was… honest and verbal, nothing like she used to be.

"You can scratch that from the records." He said, looking beyond Gabriella and Troy and as Gabriella asked what he was talking about, she turned, gasping when she saw the representatives of the press sitting on the couches behind her. They were obviously here to get an appropriate statement about the events last night.

"Shouldn't this be a private moment?" She asked him.

"Well, I was saving the private moment for later, but it looks like you have a mind of your own now."

"It's about time." Gabriella said back, glad to be talking for herself, rather than having someone talk for her.

"Why don't you put a different outfit on and then we'll talk." Mrs. Montez said to her, getting a shake of the head from Gabriella.

"I should get use out of my first ball gown because that was my last thanks to you."

"Don't go blaming your mother, Gabriella. She just had your best interest at heart when she invited Drew."

"Dad! He was a security threat! Who the hell signed him back in?"

"Watch your language _now_." President Montez said angrily, causing Gabriella to raise her eyebrows in surprise, seeing that he was being truly serious about her being appropriate as they talked. Troy cleared his throat, running a hand through his hair.

"Just give it to me Dad. I'm sure this can't be any worse than you telling me I couldn't go to college, or live somewhere else other than this prison." Gabriella replied as she put her hands on her hips.

"Well, you've been dating a White House employee for weeks, which is lying to both me and your mother and going against all of our rules. You've tarnished our reputation with your tantrum last night and you've just made everyone in this room see that you've become a spoiled brat with time." He said to her, causing her heart to race as she tried not to cry, tried keeping her emotions under control.

"And." She said, wanting him to continue.

"And this will be the last time you see Mr. Bolton, so you better get to saying goodbye. You have fifteen seconds before he will be escorted out of the building."

That's when the tears broke her strong hold on them, when they trickled down her face slowly as she looked at her mother, who was watching her with sadness clear in her eyes. Everyone was quiet in the room, no one was hacking behind her, and only one flash of a camera was seen as she looked at Troy, her left side of her face reveal to the press, giving them the perfect picture.

"Bye." She said simply, looking away from him when she couldn't make eye contact, finally hugging herself with her arms, not caring about the coffee on the front of her dress.

"Bye." He said back quieter, his voice sad and fading like he wanted to explain more, but could only use a word with one syllable, a word that meant nothing but the opposite of Hi.

With that, the President nodded, looking at each of them slowly before he gestured to Charles to walk Troy out. Troy took that obvious hint to make his way to the door, keeping his eyes on his shinning shoes so that he didn't have to look at Gabriella. She tried to regain composer as he said something to Charles as he opened the door, disappearing behind the heavy door without another word from anyone else. Gabriella felt her head become heavy as she cried, putting her unhurt hand over her eyes while she slumped over in exhaustion.

Never before would she have cried in front of a room full of people with a coffee stained dress and broken heart, but today was the start to the second worst day of her life and she knew that it was because of her that Troy was gone, never to be seen again, and that called for a public display of depression.

She wiped at her watery face, breathing out as she looked back at her dad, trying not to look like he had won this battle. She rolled her shoulders back stiffly, feeling the people behind her just by the silence coming from them.

"Do you have something to say for yourself?" President Montez asked her.

Gabriella glanced down at her dress, looked at her mom, and then made her way back to the door so that she could crawl underneath her covers for good, waiting for her prince to come wake her up, but as she stood in the doorway, she turned to face the group of people watching her, focusing on her dad.

"I hate you." She said with a nod. "That's my statement."

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**unknownbyhim22**


	14. The Aftermath

**Hello! Again, I'm so happy to see that everyone is liking this story and that everyone is reviewing! I think the number of reviews for this story could potentially beat Loving Love's number of reviews! Let's see if we can break that record! haha Enjoy!**

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter fourteen

The Aftermath

Gabriella _was_ depressed, and that was the only way to describe how she became after Troy was fired. She was still in her ball gown, and it had already been _two days_. Her bed was messy and unfixed as crumpled tissues surrounded her, one currently clamped in her good hand. Her bad hand was lying on her stomach as she looked up at the ceiling. It had to be seriously hurt, broken or sprained, because it was still throbbing, but somehow she pushed that feeling away as it continued to stay deeply bruised.

As the blinds stayed closed, she wondered what the outside world looked like as her world sat at her feet, beat and wrinkled like her tissues. She had no idea how in love she was with Troy until he was officially gone, never to return and just the thought had her face contorting into a saddened expression, tears flowing into the tissue that was blocking them from falling onto her face.

The door opened suddenly, scaring her because no one had ventured into the room since the incident in the Oval Office. When she saw Rosy, she felt her head tilt the opposite way so she wouldn't have to look at her.

"Miss Montez, it's time to get you back together again." She said as she went over to the windows, pulling open the curtains, blinding Gabriella with the first glimpse of sunlight she had in the past forty eight hours.

"I don't need to put myself back together. I'm fine this way." Gabriella said to her, noticing that her voice was raspy and unused.

"Sweetheart, I could smell you when I walked in." Rosy said as she began to pluck the used tissues from her bed, throwing them in the trash can tucked under her arm.

"Do I really smell?" Gabriella asked with tears in her eyes.

"Like coffee and sweat." Rosy replied honestly to her, smiling sadly as Gabriella got up slowly, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Do you remember when you told me about your nephew spraining his finger playing basketball?" She asked her quietly.

"Yes, why?" Rosy asked curiously, looking at the pathetically heartbroken women before her.

"Do you think you could get me one of those splints… or whatever they're called that he put on it… if you're out and about today?" Gabriella asked, finally looking up at her.

"Sure, but how do you know you need one?" She asked worriedly.

Gabriella held up the hand that had collided with Drew's hard jaw and Rosy's eyes grew wide as she saw it.

"I'll get one for you." She said again, nodding hurriedly. "And I'll bring you a few things that will catch you up on what you've miss in the past few days… why don't you take a shower so I can clean this mess up?"

"Unless you can get Troy back and convince my dad that I'm not a spoiled brat… then I don't think this mess can be completely cleaned up." Gabriella said sadly, standing up weakly with a sigh before trudging off to her bathroom, sniffling and teary eyed as she closed the door.

When Gabriella stepped out of her bathroom, her hair damp against her clean blue t-shirt, she observed her perfectly cleaned bedroom, seeing the non-wrinkly bed with new bed sheets and her cleared floor that had no shoes thrown carelessly on it. Everything was cleaned up, even her, and she realized that things went on when she felt like staying put in a tiresome moment.

As she walked over to her bed, ready to sink into the cushiony comforter, she saw a few newspapers on the end of her bed and she picked them up as she sat down. She felt her stomach ache as she saw the head line of one. **"I Hate You"** it read and the picture of her looking over at Troy as he faced the President in the Oval Office was enlarged in the center. Both of them looked perfect and out of a movie, but Gabriella knew that if they both turned around, you'd see her destroyed dress and his tired face, hands in his pockets.

Gabriella put her hand over her mouth as she read the article, feeling more hot tears flood the corners of her eyes like they always did when she thought of the past few days. The article said things about the ball, about her secret relationship with Troy, but no one made it clear who she was addressing when she said those three harsh words. To most, it would look like she was talking to Troy.

The next newspaper's headline read **"The President Apologizes"** and it went on about how he was sorry about how things have been lately and that he'd work on fixing them. Gabriella set them down, not wanting to see anymore as tears slid down her face.

Keeping her eyes on them, she heard the door open and a mystery someone walk in, but she was too afraid to look up. She didn't want the person who said he'd work on fixing things to be standing before her, ready to fix her, but when she finally looked up, there he stood. Her dad. The President of the United States.

"I see you've seen the papers." He said as he set the plate of food he brought her on her bed.

She shrugged, looking at them again, before pushing them further away from her, leaving a spot for him to sit even though she wanted anything but for him to try to have a heart-to-heart conversation with her.

"I haven't seen you in a few days." He said to her, sitting down across from her.

"I've been here." Gabriella replied with a shrug, looking down at the plate of food he brought her, suddenly realizing that she was hungry.

"How are you feeling? Have you had any panic attacks lately?" He asked her as if she had been in her room with the flu, staying home from school as if she was normal and actually went.

"I'm fine." She answered. "Someone very close to me said to stop freaking myself out… and I haven't had a panic attach since."

President Montez nodded, glancing over at the newspapers next to her as he ran a hand over his tired face.

"Gabriella… I think we need to talk about what's been going on with you lately." He said finally, causing Gabriella to roll her eyes. She knew he wasn't here to ask if she was okay, but to make sure she wouldn't be having any freak-outs in front of important people anymore.

"I'm a twenty three year old who is still told what to do by her father. I can't go to school, I can't date who I want, I can't be normal. That's what's been going on, Dad. Period." She said simply, still finding it hard to look at him.

"I don't want you to be mad at me." He admitted, looking guiltily at his daughter.

"That's a lot to ask." Gabriella replied quietly, looking into his eyes finally instead of at the space between them.

"When your mother and I invited Drew to the ball… we thought we were doing the best for you." He began. "I've always liked Drew. He's a good man."

"He's not." Gabriella shook her head, seeing her dad look at her somewhat impatiently. "He's really mean." Her voice cracked when she said this, her control on her emotions slowly crumbling.

"Is that why you punched him? Because he was being mean?" President Montez asked with a sigh, thinking that the reasons behind her actions weren't reasonable.

"No, because he threatened me." She frowned, thinking about his lie when he said he wouldn't say anything if she would have kissed him, but in a way it was her fault. If she hadn't have punched him, maybe he wouldn't have said anything.

President Montez raised his eyebrows suspiciously, wondering what kind of a threat he could have possible made.

"You could have told one of the security members to take care of that."

She shook her head, not agreeing with him.

"Troy told me that if I felt threatened and didn't have someone to help me immediately that I should take care of it myself… that I couldn't always rely on someone else to protect me." She explained, hearing his words echo in her head from the day he taught her self defense.

"I don't know what made him tell you that. You don't know how to defend yourself, sweetheart." President Montez said, thinking out loud as he became confused.

"He taught me." She whispered, feeling her throat become raspy with the feeling of sadness. "He's the only person who made me feel safe when I was alone… with no one else around."

She watched as her dad shook his head, clearly angry as he thought of her answer. The room was quiet as she kept her eyes on him, not forgiving him yet as he thought of something else to say to her. She knew more opinions were coming from him.

"You two aren't meant to be together. It's better now that you're separated."

Gabriella swore inwardly as tears slipped from her eyes while she grabbed the plate of food that her dad brought her. She picked up the sandwich on the plate and held it up so that he could see it.

"Peanut butter and jelly make the perfect sandwich." She began, seeing her dad look at her oddly. "If you pull them apart," She pulled the pieces of bread apart, looking at them. "Then jelly is a gross substance that tastes like mashed grapes and peanut butter is just a brown butter that gets stuck on the roof of your mouth. They don't work without each other…" She put them back together.

"Gabriella…" Her dad started, but stopped when she cut him off.

"When they're together though," She said as she looked at the now-back-together sandwich, finding herself thinking of Troy. "They're America's favorite lunch food." She nodded. "They taste like more than grapes and butter."

"But you and Troy aren't lunch food." President Montez sighed, slowly standing up from her bed. "You're my daughter who needs protection for as long as you're here, and Troy was an employee."

Gabriella watched as her dad went for her door, done with the conversation, not getting anything accomplished like he had hoped. Gabriella shook her head, now probably madder at him than before because he didn't understand a simple concept.

"Troy saw me as more than just the President's daughter, Dad." Gabriella said as he opened the door finally. "He believed that even I had the right to be happy. I just wish you believed that too."

President Montez blinked as no emotion showed on his face. He watched Gabriella from the doorway biting into her peanut butter and jelly sandwich as she laid down on her side, picking up the newspaper with the picture of Troy and her on it.

As he shut the door though, seeing that no one was guarding her door anymore because he decided to give her some freedom, he knew that she didn't know she had any because she hadn't been out of her room in days and the only freedom she'd actually notice now was if Troy was allowed to come back to put the sandwich back together again.

It had been a long week of bringing meals in and out of Gabriella's room. Of hearing her say nothing but complaints and making depressed comments. And finally, after tired of looking at her walls, Gabriella decided that she owed it to herself, and to Troy, to get out of her room and to move on with her life.

She made her way to the kitchen because she knew she wouldn't run into her mom or dad there and would only be talked to briefly by the kitchen staff. On her way there though she passed Charles, who gave her a sad smile, which reminded her of why she stayed in her room, only letting Rosy talk to her.

One of her sighs escaped her as she came to a slow stop by the ballroom doors, which were open and letting the glittering shine of the dance floor fall into the hallway as the sun hit it through the tall windows. Gabriella hesitated at first, but stepped in, slowly and quietly making her way to the center of the room.

Everything was cleaned up. There were no tables or chairs any more. No cheese trays or punch bowls arranged by the exit doors and she squinted as she looked at the large stairs that took up almost the entire back wall. They lead upstairs into another party room, one that had been used for donations during the ball and she closed her eyes, envisioning if something different had happened that night.

But it was almost impossible to envision anything good happening in that room, so as she took one last look at it, she picked up her pace, turning her walk into a slow jog for the door, picking up speed even more so she could get to the kitchen before she changed her mind and ended up back in her room and so she wouldn't have to stop to talk to her mom, who was smiling as she talked to one of the gardeners who was watering a nearby plant.

She caught her breath in the doorway of the kitchen, smiling softly as she walked in after, seeing that the staff was hard at work making something for lunch.

"Hello, Miss Montez." One of the chefs said to her when they noticed her by the island.

"Hi." She said softly, smiling. "How are you?"

"I'm good." He replied with a nod, chopping carrots up without even looking at them. "Can we fix you something to eat?"

"I'll just have whatever you're making… I'm definitely getting sick of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." She smiled hearing him laugh and he nodded, quickening his chopping with her explanation.

Gabriella watched the three chefs working intently for a while and her hair blew softly in the wind that was coming from the kitchen door. She gave the kitchen staff one last small smile before she went to explore the backyard by herself while she waited for them to finish making lunch.

The air was cool and the sky was a bright blue as she walked along the path in the backyard. She sat down on the edge of the fountain in the center of the yard and sighed, feeling the sun on her arms. The fountain was off, leaving only a few ripples in the water as the wind brushed against it. The lights were off; not giving the glowing effect that it had the night with the photographer incident.

She didn't realize how a fountain turned off could be so saddening, but as she felt a rumble of sadness in her chest, causing a shaky breath escape her, she saw how symbolic this random fountain was. How one night when she was with Troy it was on and now as she sat alone, looking at the tiled bottom of it, it was off, not giving off the magical feeling she was used to.

"I could tell someone to put this on if you want me to." She heard behind her, and she smiled softly as she looked behind her, squinting as the sun floated behind him.

"No thanks, Charles." She replied, running a hand through the warm water before standing up.

"How've you been, Miss Montez?" He asked her, knowing that the smiles he had seen on her face today seemed forced.

"I've been better." Gabriella replied honestly as they began to slowly walk together around the backyard.

They were quiet for a while and Gabriella smiled as she looked over at him, seeing that he was wearing a pair of sunglasses that she had gotten him a few years back and a colorful handkerchief that she had also given him was in his pocket, adding some color to his all-black attire.

"Have you talked to your friends lately?" Charles asked her, knowing that sometimes friends were the ones who made bad things better.

"No." Gabriella replied somewhat sadly, looking next to her as a butterfly fluttered past her. "They were all Troy's friends… and they have no reason to hang out with me anymore."

"I'm sure that's not true. They had to have liked you for you." He smiled, looking over at her as she shrugged.

"I guess I'll never know." She replied.

"Sometimes, Miss Montez, rules are meant to be broken." Charles started, smiling softly as she looked back at him with a raise of her eyebrows. "And I believe you chose the right ones to break."

"Wow, I never would have thought I'd hear this from Mr. Rule-Follower." Gabriella smiled, laughing softly.

"I surprise myself occasionally." He replied with a chuckle.

"But breaking the rules didn't get me anything, Charles." She said to him, shaking her head at the truth. "I lost my friends, disappointed my family, and got Troy fired… I mean… I have no idea what happened to him, or anything for that matter! I've been in my room for days."

"He's fine." Charles said to her seriously, knowing that her short rant wasn't about getting nothing… it was about knowing nothing about what happened to Troy.

"How do you know?" She stopped, facing Charles with a sigh.

"Because he said he would be fine as long as you were." He answered, seeing her now concentrating on her shoes.

"But I'm not fine." She replied, looking up finally, seeing him smiling slightly.

"Miss Montez, you've gotten over this. You've emerged from your room and finally ate something. You've talked to people other than Rosy. It'll just take time to get over Troy." He told her, seeing her eyes glaze with tears quickly, but she looked back at her shoes, hiding them.

"Thanks for coming out to talk, Charles."

"It's my job." He smiled, patting her lightly on the arm. "And your dad told me to, so give him some time. He'll come around."

He walked away with that, leaving her among flowers and gardeners, where they went on with their day happy and colorful, blooming and enjoying the days work, but Gabriella still didn't feel back to normal as she stood there, hands on her hips as she thought about what it would take for her to move on.

The small amount of wind that hit Gabriella's face as she ran quickly on the treadmill did nothing for her as sweat dripped down her back. It was late at night and after getting into an argument with her mom about Drew, she had ended up in the basement's gym, tired and pissed.

No one else was with her besides the security on the other side of the doors of the gym and the only thing she could hear was the swooshing of the treadmill underneath her. Everything else was silent, so that's why she turned on the TV with the remote control that was in the cup holder on the exercising machine.

She wasn't interested in watching reruns of Full House or of the Bachelorette, so that's how the basketball game was chosen. Instead of watching the players sweat, feeling bad that they were probably extremely hot and uncomfortable, she was experiencing it with them, knowing her cheeks were red as she pushed on.

Chad Danforth was currently running down the court, his hair bouncing as he dodged an oncoming threat and as he jumped into the air, throwing the ball towards the net, Gabriella held her breath, only breathing when the ball was safely flying through the white netting.

"Yes." She whispered to herself, turning the TV up so that she could hear the loud cheer of the audience.

As Chad pumped his fists in the air, causing Gabriella to smile as he ran to the other end of the court, trying to get the ball back towards the opponents' side, she saw a familiar figure sitting in floor seating, cheering on the team.

She swallowed, squinting and then swearing when she couldn't see the person any longer, but she kept running as she searched the screen for a glimpse of her past. Chad was at it again, running to the basket, passing the orange ball quickly to another teammate. The crowd was on their feet again, cheering as the ball went into the basket easily.

There he was, laughing and screaming with Sharpay and Taylor as Chad hugged a teammate as they celebrated their win. Gabriella could feel her legs numbing, but that was only because her speed had greatly increased. Her lungs were burning inside of her as she put either foot on each side of the treadmill, folding over the monitor as she breathed deeply, staring at the thrashing floor of the treadmill, zooming underneath her as she stayed still.

She wished that life could have been like her and the treadmill in this moment. She could jump to the side, staying still in a certain moment as the rest of her life zoomed by, going its own speed as all she did was pick when she wanted to slow down. But life wasn't like a treadmill and she couldn't press power to stop or go slower. She simply kept running, passing those who ran in the opposite direction, thrown into a different path that wasn't meant to pass hers again, moving on without her.

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**unknownbyhim22**


	15. It's Her Birthday

**Hey everyone! Thank you so much for all of the reviews! After this chapter, there is only ONE MORE left! Enjoy!**

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Protecting Miss Montez

Chapter fifteen

It's Her Birthday

Gabriella woke up to Rosy cheerfully wishing her a happy birthday and the room was suddenly engulfed with sun, causing Gabriella to squint as she smiled softly. There was a birthday card on her nightstand that was already opened. It was from her grandparents, but other than that one card, she'd gotten nothing else. She slid out of bed, hugging Rosy as she exclaimed that that was the only gift she could give her and with another thank you, Gabriella excused herself to change into something other than pajamas to wear.

The White House was quiet like it always was, but usually on this day it would be loud and full of cheerful people smiling at her happily. Today though the only person Gabriella had seen that morning was Rosy and no one else was walking around the house, doing their jobs.

Her confusion grew as she saw that the only person that was outside was the lawn mower and he never was too fond of her. She looked in each room of the house, only finding a maid, plumber, and a florist who was arranging a bouquet of purple flowers. She remembered that it was Gabriella's birthday though, and wished her a happy one, giving her a flower with a smile.

Gabriella twirled the flower in her hand, walking towards the kitchen by herself, worried that she missed getting on a plane to go to a press conference or something important. She walked into the kitchen, seeing only a cupcake with an unlit candle in the center of the island, only a note and lighter with it.

She picked up the note, frowning when she saw her dad's handwriting.

"Gabriella. We had a last minute press conference to go to and didn't want to wake you up, so we left you with Rosy, your favorite White House staff member. Happy Birthday." It read simply.

"You have to be kidding me!" Gabriella said to herself, tossing the note down as she sat down into the barstool, harshly pushing the cupcake over to her.

She picked up the lighter, pressing down on the black button angrily, wondering if she lit the White House on fire anyone would notice. She clicked the button a few more times, seeing the flame appear and then disappear quickly. After a moment of playing with it, she lit the candle, looking around the empty kitchen.

"Really?" She said to no one. "You are all going to make me sing to myself? I don't even get twenty four candles?"

Gabriella eyed the pitiful flame that stood alone and sad, just like her and as she rolled her eyes at herself, cursing, she blew out the candle, making a wish, and then, because this wasn't a traditional party, she sang because otherwise her wish wouldn't come true, but she knew it wouldn't anyways. They never did.

"Happy Birthday to me." She mumbled in a monotone, slouching over the counter, and then sitting up because she would fall asleep as she bored herself to death. "Happy Birthday to me. I hate being the President's daughter…" She sighed. "Happy Birthday to…"

"You." She heard a male's voice finish the song for her from the kitchen door that led out to the backyard and she closed her eyes quickly, wondering if this would be the year her wishes started to come true.

Gabriella felt adrenaline pumping through her veins as she turned to see Troy standing in the doorway dressed in normal-everyday clothing. She stood up immediately, rushing over to hug him as he smiled, holding her tightly as he spun her around.

"Please don't tell me you jumped the fence." She laughed against his neck, different emotions coming to her all at once.

"I won't tell you then." He joked, setting her down carefully as they looked at each other happily, his eyes sparkling like hers while she thought of something to say.

"So… how did you get in here?" She asked curiously.

"Well, I had your dad's favorite Lakers player give him a call." Troy explained with a smirk.

"Oh, that's cruel." She joked, knowing that her dad wouldn't be able to resist Chad Danforth. They stayed quiet for a minute again, and as Troy smiled, he saw the tears running down her face as she tried brushing them away, shaking her head.

"Hey, why are you crying? Are you okay?" He asked her worriedly, brushing her hair back slowly as he looked at her wet face.

"Yeah." She squeaked, nodded at him with a short laugh. "I've never gotten what I wished for on my birthday until now." She explained.

"You wasted a wish on me?" Troy asked with a smile, giving her a look that meant he was joking as she looked at him playfully in anger. She hugged him again, not knowing how long he'd be there for.

Troy pulled away slowly so that he could kiss her, laughing when she made the first move before he did and as they stood by the kitchen doorway Gabriella heard a soft laugh from outside, causing her to pull away first, glancing towards the door.

"Did you hear that?"

"No." Troy said quickly, covering her eyes with his hand as she tried peeking out the door. "I actually have a surprise for you."

"I don't like surprises." She said to him, holding onto his arm as he covered her eyes with his hands, leading her out to the back.

"Yeah well, you surprised me on my birthday, so I thought I'd do the same." He said close to her ear, sending chills down her spine as she smiled.

"Aw, so you're getting me a table and punch bowl?" She joked with enthusiasm, smiling still as he laughed; stopping her once they walked a few more feet forward.

Gabriella was in the middle of joking with Troy when he pulled his hands away from her eyes. He stepped next to her, seeing her gasp and then start to laugh excitedly while looking over at him, giving him a playful shove as she saw the scene in the backyard.

The White House staff was all standing there by a table with a punch bowl and snacks on it, along with a huge birthday cake, with red shirts that read 'IT'S UR B-DAY' in colorful bolded letters on the front of them. She continued to laugh as she saw Sharpay and Taylor with her parents, all of them smiling at her.

"Surprise!" They all shouted loudly when they saw her.

"I can't believe you did this." She said quietly to him, still staying in her spot across from the group.

"I can't take all of the credit. It was your dad's idea." Troy explained, leading her over to the group where Taylor and Sharpay were the first to greet her, squealing as they hugged her and exclaimed that they missed her.

Gabriella hugged each and every person there, telling them thank you and all the while she smiled, laughing too as people made jokes about her believing that they all forgot about her.

She was in the middle of apologizing to her dad, telling him that she shouldn't have been so mean to him when Sharpay and Taylor grabbed her arm, laughing as everyone mingled together and they pulled her to a large oak tree that had a piñata that was shaped like jeans and Gabriella laughed as Troy handed her a bat to whack it with.

"I don't know if she needs that, Troy." Taylor giggled, seeing the crowd forming behind them to watch.

"Yeah. She can punch it and it'll break right open." Sharpay finished for her, laughing as Gabriella playfully frowned.

"Hey!" She exclaimed, laughing as Troy did while the staff and her parents laughed too about the new inside joke of the White House. "Is there seriously candy in that?" Gabriella giggled.

"I don't know. Charles filled it." Troy replied as he tied a bandanna over her eyes, leading her towards the hanging pants.

"Come on, Gabs! I want some candy!" She heard her dad laugh behind her and as she poked the bat aimlessly in the air she finally felt it hit something and with one good swing of the baseball bat, she heard everyone laugh, seeing the objects pouring out.

Gabriella laughed loudly as she pulled the bandanna away from her eyes and she saw a pile of handkerchiefs on the ground, still spilling out.

"No candy?" Troy laughed to Charles, seeing him shrug.

"That was the only things I had a huge supply of!" He explained laughing as Gabriella tossed the bat to the ground, going back to the group.

"Those better not be the ones that I gave you!" She said to him jokingly, smiling as Troy wrapped his arms around her and as she leaned her head against his shoulder, the group smiling at them lovingly, knowing that this is really the only thing she wanted:

Her backyard decorated for her, her family and friends together and happy, and the guy that she loved wrapping his arms around her as if he'd stay there forever, protecting the woman that he loved. And as everyone started singing Happy Birthday they all had a feeling that that was exactly what he would do. Because now, it really was his job.

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**Like it? Review!**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


	16. A Wedding

**Hello everyone! Ah, I have so many things to do, but I'm making sure to update the last chapter of this story! I just want to thank all of you for reading and reviewing and for liking this story so much! I honestly thought people weren't going to like it at all, because I didn't really like it myself. But anyways, before you all go reading, I want to make sure you know this... There WILL NOT BE A SEQUEL to this story. Enjoy!**

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Protecting Miss Montez

Epilogue

A Wedding

To Gabriella, the year that passed had gone by quickly and now she was twenty five, a graduate of online college (Yippee!) and now a member of the official Lakers' fan club. For Troy, the year had also gone by too fast for comfort, but he had Gabriella by his side and he had gotten a brand new job, being the sports announcer for the LA Lakers all thanks to Chad and his constant invites to the games- he became a common member of the audience and people started to notice him.

But the person people also commonly noticed was Gabriella, her hand always near his as they sat and watched the game, her expression calm and happy while she experienced a somewhat normal life.

Now though, the Lakers had just won yet another game, taking them to the NBA Finals and people were excited. The game was done, the team was in the locker room celebrating and some of the only people left in their seats were Taylor and Sharpay as they waited for Chad to return so they could congratulate him.

From her spot next to Troy high above the court's seating, Gabriella could see her two friends giggling and fooling around on the large court. Troy was currently talking into a microphone, announcing to those who were listening to the after show radio broadcast that he was with her.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm with the President's daughter Gabriella Montez and she's looking beautiful as usual… say hello to everyone, Gabriella." He said in his deep broadcasting voice, surely making people excited with his energetic attitude.

"Hello!" She said with a laugh, leaning towards her own microphone as she looked away from her friends, smiling as she looked at the camera men and sound people in front of her.

"So, we all have a few questions for you today since you're the guest of honor." Troy began, explaining this to her as if she hadn't already been filled in. "Did you enjoy the game? What was your favorite part?" Was his first question.

"Of course I enjoyed the game! I always do. There's just something about being at the games rather than sitting at home watching them." She replied with a laugh as Troy winked at her. "My favorite part had to be when Chad got the final points. He's my favorite player, definitely." She nodded, causing Troy to smile again.

"Why's he your favorite player?" Troy quizzed her.

"I like his hair."

"OOH! Did you all hear that? Of all of the things that Chad Danforth has done, Gabriella Montez likes him because of his hair!" Troy 'ohhed' and awed into the microphone, causing the people filming him to chuckle quietly.

"Stop that." Gabriella laughed, shoving Troy softly as she rolled her eyes at him, hearing him chuckle as well.

"Alright, I'm done messing around." He announced, glancing at her with a smile. "Are you up for one more question?"

"Shoot." Gabriella replied, smiling at him.

Troy cleared his throat and then opened his suit jacket, pulling something out from an inside pocket and Gabriella raised her eyebrows in surprise as he simply set the velvet box on the table, it's lid open and showing the sparkling ring in the center. Her heart could be felt thudding against her chest and she looked at him quickly, her eyes watering.

"Will you marry me?" He asked.

"Yes!" She squealed, standing up to hug him quickly and he laughed as he replied.

"Can you say that into the mike so the whole country doesn't think you just rejected me?" He chuckled and she happily exclaimed again that she'd marry him into the mike, kissing him passionately before hearing a loud cheering sound coming from below them.

Taylor, Sharpay, Chad, and the rest of the team was on the court jumping up and down and cheering as they heard her reply, their proposal was playing on the large screens above the court and Gabriella and Troy laughed, ignoring them momentarily as they kissed again.

"I love you." Troy said with a smile, looking into her eyes.

"I love you too, body guard." She winked at him, causing him to wiggle his eyebrows, pulling her closer so that he could kiss his future wife.

Gabriella stood nervously in her bedroom, waiting for Sharpay and Taylor to arrive so that they could make their way to the backyard. Her dress was sparkling in the sun that shinned through the window and as she looked down at the people below, she breathed out, trying to no panic as she became nervous. Her dress was light, like her purple one a long time ago had been and it flowed to the ground, trailing behind her shortly. Her hair was in a half ponytail; her make up was light and perfect.

"I hope Troy saw you in that!" Taylor said quickly as her and Sharpay rushed into the room, each of them in a different purple dress.

"No, he hasn't seen me yet." Gabriella smiled, walking over to her friends, lifting her dress slightly so she wouldn't step on it as her silver shoes stayed tied securely on her feet.

"Good. That would be bad luck if he did." Sharpay smiled, looking at her wonderfully designed dress. She squeezed Gabriella's arm, giving her a reassuring look as she noticed she was nervous.

"Do you think everything is going to go alright? The last ball I went to didn't end well." Gabriella said quickly, hearing her friends giggle.

"You'll be fine." Sharpay convinced her.

"Yeah, everything is all set." Taylor smiled, taking in the beautiful dress her friend was wearing. "So whenever you're ready we can go." She added.

"I feel like I'm going to have a panic attack… in a good way." Gabriella admitted, breathing out slowly again so she could regain composer.

"Alright, well we don't have time for panic attacks, so let's go!" Sharpay smiled, taking her hand so that she could lead her out of the room without any time for her nerves to get the best of her.

Gabriella smiled, walking down the long hallway of the White House, taking the bouquet of flowers that Sharpay handed her once they entered the kitchen and as the girls did a secret handshake that meant they were tight until the end, President Montez came in, teary eyed as he saw Gabriella.

"Ready?" He asked her, seeing Sharpay and Taylor hurrying to take their spots.

"I guess I have to be." She smiled, linking her arm with his.

Gabriella looked out at the people who were all there for her as she stood at the top of the ballroom stairs, her smile genuine as she saw that everyone was now turning to look up at her. She was nervous, feeling the panic attack that she knew was just around the corner, but as she felt a hand fold over her own, she felt all of her nerves go away and she looked over at Troy, who was right next to her, smiling as he took in her white dress.

"Ladies and Gentleman!" She heard the DJ's voice echo around the ballroom. "Make some room for Mr. and Mrs. Troy Bolton. It is my pleasure to announce that they'll be starting their first dance as husband and wife."

In the distance Taylor and Sharpay hooted and hollered and the rest of the guests clapped, watching as the perfectly dressed couple walked down the many stairs to get to the dance floor where they turned to each other, starting to dance to the soft song playing above them.

"So, if I kiss you." Troy whispered close to her ear, sending goose bumps to form on her arms. "You won't punch me, will you?" He joked.

"Nah." Gabriella replied with a smile, rubbing her nose against his. "I would never punch the man who taught me how to protect myself." She giggled.

"Well, you won't have to worry about doing that, because that's my job now. And I'll protect you for the rest of my life." He smiled, kissing her as she smiled excitedly, now realizing that this was it. They'd be together for forever.

"Hmm. Protecting Mrs. Bolton." She smiled after. "I like the sound of that."

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**I know, a totally cliche ending, but did you like it? Review! I just want to let everyone know that I will be posting my new story on June 18th. That's the last day of school for me, so I want to celebrate by posting something new. I promise that my next story is amazing. It is personally my all time favorite, and I'm hoping it will be all of yours!**

**Much love,**

**unknownbyhim22**


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